Paying attention in sex: The science of mindfulness for improving sexual response
Sex in a multi-tasking world has become distracted,
pressured, and unsatisfying. Rates of sexual dysfunction
in men and women are high, and discrepant sexual
desire in couples represents one of the most common
causes for seeking sex therapy. For women, the update
of flibanserin, the only FDA and Health Canada
approved desire drug, has been low. Mindfulness meditation,
defined as present-moment, non-judgmental
awareness, has become a prominent tool in Western
healthcare for a wide range of medical and psychological
ailments, from pain to anxiety to heart-rate regulation.
In this keynote presentation, I will share the
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH A9
science evaluating the efficacy of mindfulness for a variety
of sexual health issues. This talk will consider also
the purported mechanisms by which mindfulnes is
likely improving sex. Finally, we will consider how practitioners
can integrate mindfulness into their own sexual
health practices, and their own lives.
Keywords: mindfulness, sexual health, sexual desire
Source of Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health
Research
Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Statement: None
