The impact of the new sexual pharmaceuticals on sex therapy

Since the March 27, 1998 introduction of sildenafil, opportunities for sex therapists have expanded, primarily in three ways: 1) public education, 2) colleague education, and 3) treatment. Primary care physicians and urologists learned that incorporating sex therapy techniques improved the effectiveness of sildenafil; furthermore, sex therapists discovered that integrating adjunctive use of sildenafil with sex therapy accelerated the therapy process and improved outcome. As new pharmaceuticals are developed and approved for men and women, opportunities for medical and nonmedical sex therapists will only increase. In fact, sex therapists are playing an increasingly important consultative role to industry in the research and development of new sexual pharmaceuticals. However, optimism for nonphysician sex therapists is tempered by recognition of the continuing trend toward medicalization of sexual dysfunction.