Hypnosis in Sex Therapy is a book by Dr Tracie O’Keefe, who is a clinical hypnotherapist, psychotherapist, sex therapist, life coach and natropath, working in Australia.

The author’s main point in this book is that sexual problems are rarely just about sex. They can involve a mixture of the body, emotions, anxiety, past experiences, beliefs, relationships, culture and learned patterns. Hypnosis can be used to work with some of those deeper patterns and help clients change how they experience themselves and their sexuality.

The book covers issues such as:

• low or absent sexual desire
• erectile difficulties
• premature ejaculation
• vaginismus
• difficulty reaching orgasm
• unwanted sexual behaviours
• sexual addiction
• recovery following sexual assault
• sexuality and disability
• improving sexual confidence and pleasure

It also includes a substantial amount of clinical case studies, showing how Tracie approached different clients, and it demonstrates that she uses different treatments for everyone.

The book also covers the need to explore the client’s history, ranging from life history through the current day problems and of course, their medical history too. She is quite clear in her feelings that there isn’t a single hypnotic script that will work for everybody.

The book is very well written and makes an easy-to-understand guide to working with sexual issues if they present in the consulting room. If you’re a therapist who doesn’t currently do sex therapy, the book is still very useful because it gives you a good feel for how much can sit underneath a seemingly simple sexual complaint.

Overall, this is a thought-provoking and practical read for therapists wanting to broaden their understanding of sexual difficulties and explore how hypnosis can be incorporated into their therapeutic work.