Sex in the Brain gives an overview of what happens in the brain during the development of romantic and sexual relationships, from the intense emotions accompanying the early stages of a new relationship to kissing, touch, arousal, orgasm, commitment, parenting, infidelity, breaking up or staying together. Neuroscience has uncovered fascinating insights into the brain processes involved in human drives and sexual behaviour, and romantic relationships are now a particular focus of attention. With advanced imaging techniques and hormone testing methods, neurotransmitters and brain regions in humans can now be investigated, allowing researchers to describe the complex neural patterns that enable us to feel desire, exhilaration and commitment to a partner. This book is for anyone keen to learn more about their own responses and interactions with a partner. Sex in the Brain provides insights into how the brain impacts on sexual behaviour on every level. Each chapter describes the empirical studies that are particularly relevant, while the summaries and case examples following each chapter, give clear suggestions on how neurobiological knowledge can become a valuable part of therapeutic methods.

Recent decades have seen a decline in the emphasis on sexuality in psychoanalytic theory, while clinical psychology has become more involved in sexual health issues. However, sexuality remains at the core of human experience, and where there are psychological and psychotherapeutic treatments, there will be sexual issues to be addressed. Sex, Mind and Emotion is a collection of predominantly clinical papers that use a fusion of psychoanalytic, systemic and cognitive theories in conjunction with public service practice. Defining problematic sexual behavior is an issue fraught with difficulty, as acceptable behavior is something affected by social and cultural mores. The authors have defined problematic behavior in various ways, including behavior that has been deemed to be problematic by law, a biostatistical definition of normality and abnormality, and the admission of subjective distress by the patient.The book is divided into three parts: developments in theory, client groups posing new challenges, and innovative therapeutic approaches. It deals with important and relevant topics such as the treatment of sex offenders; the compulsive use of Internet pornography; the psychosexual development of adolescents growing up with HIV; the psychodynamics of unsafe sex; refugees and sexuality; services for people with gender dysphoria; psychological treatment for survivors of rape and sexual assault; and loss of sexual interest. The central tenet is that sexual behavior cannot be divorced from the emotional context in which it occurs and therefore no chapter is about sex without also addressing "mind" and "emotion." Throughout the book, two common themes are the inextricable interrelatedness of biology and psychology, and the importance of a developmental perspective. The contributors also compare clinical evidence with theoretical models and refine both practice and theory accordingly. Clinical vignettes are used to illustrate theoretical points and while much of the work focuses on the individual, there are also two chapters that emphasize the importance of the relational context in which problems may occur.Contributors: Naomi Adams, Winifred Bolton, Anne-Marie Doyle, Brigid Hekster, Janice Hiller, Diane Melvin, Bernard Ratigan, Simon Thomas, Deirdre Williams, Heather Wood, and Sarah Zetler.

Sex, Mind, and Emotion is a collection of predominantly clinical papers, exploring innovative work in the field. The central tenet of the book is that sexual behaviour cannot be divorced from the emotional context in which it occurs or the meaning of that behaviour to the individual and therefore no chapter is about sex without also add