title: The Gestalt awareness-expression cycle as a model for sex therapy.
abstract: Conceptual models and treatment modalities generally used in Gestalt therapy are specifically applicable to sex therapy. Healthy sexual functioning requires self-regulation in which the person becomes aware of the dominant need in the situation and expresses himself to satisfy that need and to complete the Gestalt. The Gestalt awareness-expression cycle is a model for understanding both the processes of sexual functioning and dysfunction and of the therapeutic encounter. The concepts of awareness, excitement, action, and contact as components of the cycle are related conceptually both to modes and points of interruption of self-regulation and to specific treatment modalities and methods. Three major modalities of Gestalt therapy, awareness, experiment, and contactful encounter, and illustrative Gestalt methods are introduced in the context of sex therapy.
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D004325:Dreams; D005260:Female; D005864:Gestalt Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012381:Role Playing; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000628:therapy*