The ego-analytic approach to individual body-work sex therapy: Five case examples

The term individual body-work sex therapy is proposed to refer to a subfield of the larger field of sex therapy in which paraprofessionals take a variety of roles, from partner surrogate to sensory guide to body-work cotherapist, working from a variety of therapeutic models. To convey the unique and generally unfamiliar dimensions of this treatment modality, as identified through 10 years of experience with it, five cases are presented, each embodying one or more critical incidents. An ideographic method of reporting clinical work is offered in which these case presentations are chosen to represent five levels of therapeutic outcome. Since these cases also illustrate an application of the ego-analytic model, this approach is discussed and is compared with other approaches to body-work therapy in relation to the way the body work is used, the way the role of the paraprofessional is conceived, the structure of the therapy, and the patient populations treated.