Portland Sex Therapy

One of the most common experiences for couples and their sexual relationship. A mismatch in desire. One partner may be experiencing more desire and one partner may be experiencing less desire. Mismatch desire often comes with emotions like frustration, anger, guilt and shame; all valid and normal feelings to have regarding this experience. There is often a lot of dynamics at play that need to be fully understood. My goal is to support you in understanding your feelings around the desire discrepancy, explore sexual narratives that may be impacting desire, discussing what sex looks like and what it means for each of you.

Experiencing a low libido or lower desire can bring up a lot of different feelings especially when it may impact you or your intimate and sexual relationships. There can be a plethora of reasons why you might be experiencing low libido or low desire. My goal is to support you in the exploration of psychological, biological, relational and sociocultural implications that may affect your libido and desire.

Human sexuality is diverse and complex. The topic of sex in itself can bring a lot of shame, worry, and anxiety for people. To top it off, you may experience a desire to explore or engage in a sexual interest or fantasy that deviates from societal norms, which can feel nerve wrecking to talk about. Lets break it down into Kinks, Paraphilias, and Fetishes. Kinks are usually described as non traditional sexual behaviors that people use to spice things up; Kinks are usually something people can take or leave depending on their mood or the context. Fetishes are nontraditional sexual interests or behaviors that are usually a necessary element of sexual arousal and sexual activity. Paraphilias are often similar to fetishes but they may have escalated in ways that result in negative consequences for an individual or for others . Sometimes your engagement in a particular sexual interest causes increased pleasure, no distress, and you just need a space to talk about it. Other times you may experience a unique sexual interest or fantasy that causes distress and affects your daily life. Sometimes you may experience an erotic conflict which exists when your individual desires, fanatasies and behaviors are not consistent with your personal values and belief system. My goal is to support you in exploring your unique fantasies and sexual interests in a way that promotes pleasure, and limits shame, guilt, and harm.

Anxiety during sex is totally normal! Sexual performance anxiety is a very common and occasionally a very distressing concern for individuals and couples. Anxiety that impacts your sexual wellbeing and intimate relationships can be impacted by various different things. My goal is to help you explore the underlying factors that may be contributing to the anxiety, whether its psychological, emotional, and or physiological in nature. Through dialogic exploration and behavioral techniques, I want to help you build your sexual confidence, reduce anxiety, and enrich your sexual life.

Sexual shame is a deeply ingrained and often silent burden that can affect tons of individuals. We live in a relatively sex negative society, so it’s common to experience sexual shame. I understand the profound impact sexual shame can have on your self esteem, your relationships, and your overall sexual well being. My goal is to support you in holding a judgement free space for you to explore sexual shame and its underlying origins. Whether is family, religion, societal narratives, I can help you untangle the complexities of sexual shame. My hope is to offer you support to begin to heal and transform negative beliefs and narratives surrounding your sexuality so that you can be on your way to feeling sexually empowered

Premature or rapid ejaculation is common for a lot of people. This concern can cause an immense amount of distress and lead to performance anxiety and relationship conflict. I want to support you in exploring the meaning you attach to rapid ejaculation, your experience of rapid ejaculation, and your history with this concern and how it has evolved over time. My goal is to support you in exploring and implementing techniques, gaining confidence, and identify sexual narratives that may be impacting you and your sexual wellness.

Erectile dysfunction is another very common concern for many people. It can have an emotional and psychological toll on an individual and their partners and yet it can be manageable. There are various reasons why you may experience erectile dysfunction (Physiological psychological and or relational reasons could be a start). I want to support you in exploring the underlying factors that contribute to ED, identify root causes, and develop and effective treatment plan and process to support you and your sexual wellness.

Sex and Porn “Addiction” can can be viewed through two different lenses. It can be viewed through the lens of addiction which can be considered a more pathologizing method that focuses on dysfunction. Sex and or Porn addiction through the lens of addiction asserts that it is similar to other forms of addiction (e.g. alcohol and substance addiction) where an individual may have a pathologic relationship to a sexual behavior. The other lens which I subscribe to in my approach is the Out of Control Sexual Behavior (OCSB). The OCSB lens is focused on working with compulsive sexual behaviors by beings curious about the engagement in unwanted sexual behaviors and working towards cultivating sexual health. OCSB lens asserts that an individual has consensual sexual urges, thoughts and behaviors that feel out of control them. My goal is to help you identify underlying causes for OCSB and explore feelings and approaches around your concern.