Abstract

Mental health professionals (e.g. counselors, psychologists, social workers) use the internet to market their services. One such service being marketed is “sex therapy.” However, considering the paucity of sexuality-related standards present in the training standards governing the training of these professionals, it is unclear to what extent clinicians who advertise as providing “sex therapy” have the training to competently and therefore ethically provide that service. The current study sought to address this knowledge gap via survey methodology. One hundred fourteen (n = 114) clinicians from across the United States who market as providing “sex therapy” on their public PsychologyToday profile were recruited for the study. Results indicate that 25.5% are certified in sex therapy, 31.9% completed zero credits of sexuality-related coursework in graduate school, and 52.1% are members of a professional sex therapy organization. Additionally, 74.9% of clients on their caseload are presenting with sex as a primary or secondary issue. The clinical, training, and research implications of these results are discussed.

摘要

心理健康专业人士（例如咨询师、心理学家、社会工作者）使用互联网来推销他们的服务。正在销售的一项此类服务是“性治疗”。然而，考虑到管理这些专业人员培训的培训标准中存在的性相关标准很少，目前尚不清楚宣传提供“性治疗”的临床医生在多大程度上接受了培训，从而能够胜任并合乎道德地提供该服务。当前的研究试图通过调查方法解决这一知识差距。该研究招募了来自美国各地的 14 名 (n = 114) 临床医生，他们在其公开的“今日心理学”档案中以提供“性治疗”为名进行营销。结果表明，25.5% 的人获得性治疗认证，31。9% 在研究生院完成了零学分的性相关课程，52.1% 是专业性治疗组织的成员。此外，74.9% 的客户将性视为主要或次要问题。讨论了这些结果的临床、培训和研究意义。