Sexual Grounding Therapy

There’s so much written and spoken about sex these days – a lot of information available and what used to be taboo can now be spoken about with relative freedom. But are we sexually happy? Are we sexually fulfilled? Judging what I read in the media and what I come across in my practice as a psychosexual therapist, I’d say the answer is ‘No’!

I first came across the work of Willem Poppeliers in 2006. He calls his therapeutic model, Sexual Grounding Therapy – ‘sexual’ because, like Freud and Reich before him, he sees sexual expression and fulfilment as essential aspects of human existence, and ‘grounding’ because he believes that sexuality is best (most fulfilling) when it is grounded in physical and emotional reality – the reality of the body and the reality of our relationship with ourselves and with others. As a trained therapist already, I gained enormously from this work, so much so that I decided to train in it and, as part of that training, wrote a thesis on which my book is based.

My aim, in the thesis and in the book, is to put Poppeliers’ work into a historical context – looking at how sexuality and sexual issues have been thought about from the earliest recorded times to the present day. I’ve also put the work into a therapeutic context – looking at the range of help available to those with sexual problems, and into a social, scientific and future context – looking at the place of psychotherapy/psychosexual therapy in society, its relationship with science and where it might go in the future.

So that’s what the book is about and why should you read it? The way I’ve tried to pitch it is so that it makes sense to people who are interested in their own growth and personal development and, at the same time, has enough theory and technical information to be useful to professionals working with sex and relationships in whatever context they do this. I’d be interested to hear whether I’ve achieved both objectives so do let me know if you have any feedback.

I’ve included a number of self-reflective exercises that you might find interesting and there’s a whole section of the book devoted to psychosexual development, which Poppeliers believes continues throughout our lifetime, rather than ending when we become adult as many other models maintain.

If this interests you on a personal and/or professional level, you can order the book direct from the publisher. Contact me if you’d like a signed copy or if you have any questions. Also contact me if you want a copy and you live in the EU. Because of Brexit, if you order direct from the publisher, you’ll have to pay an extra tax plus administration. However, I’m arranging an EU printing so we can get round this.