Annotated Bibliography: Sexual And Relationship Therapy

Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2013
Vol. 28, No. 1-2, 84–91, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2012.756976

Mindfulness in love and love making: a way of life
Frank G. Sommers*
Independent Private Psychiatry Practice, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(Received 29 October 2012; final version received 4 December 2012)
Increasing evidence is accumulating on the real benefits of mindfulness training. It is also emerging as a core, effective component of modern sex therapy practice. Some neuro-endocrine and neuro-imagery studies reviewed here provide an evidence base to the treatment protocol that this psycho-sexual therapy practice, called Visually
Enhanced Psycho-Sexual Therapy, introduced in 1975. The definition and mode of application of
Critchley’s (2009) work proposes an integrative overall framework for the body-mind-body connection and the integral neuro signalling role of the ANS’s two branches. More recent work documented the inhibitory role of gamma-aminobutyric acid from the reticular nucleus of the thalamus in fostering cortical silent periods after a mere one-hour session of meditation (Guglietti,
Daskalakis, Radhu, Fitzgerald, & Ritvo, 2012).
The nature of this solo practitioner psychiatric practice
This report covers the period of 1998–2011, during which time this practice has provided some 7651 sessions of Visually Enhanced Brief Directive Psycho-Sexual
Therapy (VEST): 3430 to couples, and 3242 and 979 to single males and females, respectively (see Table 1). This is an independent (private) practice with a catchment area of a large metropolitan region (Greater Toronto, Canada) with a total population over 5.5 million, almost half comprised of visible minorities from many parts of the world, often recent or first-generation immigrants. Previous papers
(Sommers, 1982, 1998, 2000, 2003) have reported on various aspects of this practice.
Table 1.

Diagnostic categories for the period 1998–2011.
The treatment of this couple went back to fundamentals and after about 10 sessions both felt reborn, recommitted and in love. The picture of their new baby they sent a year later, attested further the benefits of therapy.
The desire discrepancy illustrated by this couple’s presenting picture is not unusual in modern sexual therapy. Once again, a comprehensive therapeutic
‘‘rebuilding’’ of the ‘‘sexual house’’ of the couple seems to work effectively. A key component of the VEST program in this process is the emphasis on embracing the
PC and PA mindfulness principles, along with significant coaching in productive couples’ emotional communication skills, resolving covert or lingering resentments.
Further, the couple embark on the path of a more satisfying, mindful mode of intimacy and, indeed, way of life. By being mindful, the couple are operating in the
‘‘Present Centred, Process Absorbed’’ mode and embrace the VEST program’s definition of sex, which is ‘‘sex is adult play, and a form of communication, which, at times, can even be profound’’. At later stages of the VEST program, patients are introduced to some elements of spiritual or ‘‘sacred’’ sexual practises.
Mindfulness and