Coming Together: Synthesizing Sex Therapy with Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy

The fields of couple therapy and sex therapy have historically been divided, with sex therapists focusing on sexual problems as fuel for relationship distress and couple therapists conceptualizing relationship distress as the root of sexual problems. Various researchers and clinicians have worked to integrate the two worlds by offering strategies for integrating sex therapy interventions into couple therapy, either by providing just the information necessary to address the sexual difficulty or by articulating how to utilize a sex therapy intervention within a specific couple therapy modality. However, limited literature exists that truly integrates sex therapy with specific couple therapies, actively accounting for the theoretical lenses held by both. This paper explores the conceptual fit between Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT; Christensen, Doss, & Jacobson, Integrative behavioral couple therapy: A therapist's guide to creating acceptance and change. Norton Professional Books, 2020) and modern sex therapy. To highlight this fit, we first review IBCT's theory, process, and primary interventions and then summarize the current trends in the field of sex therapy. We outline the conceptual fit between IBCT and modern sex therapy, then provide a pragmatic model for how a therapist might integrate the two in practice, highlighted with a case example.