About the Author

Josh Spurlock, MA, LPC, CST is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Sex Therapist with over 10,000 hours of clinical experience. Josh specializes in Marriage Counseling and Sex Therapy. You can schedule an appointment with Josh for online counseling.

In This Article

1. Not Everybody Needs Professional Sex Therapy
2. Free Sex Therapy Articles
3. Recommended Book Resources
4. Helpful Sex Therapy Links

Not everybody needs professional sex therapy.

It’s true, just because you are having some sexual difficulties doesn’t mean that you will need the help of a certified sex therapist. In some situations, good information and some direction are all you need. Below you’ll find some articles written by the certified Christian sex therapists on our team and links to helpful resources we frequently recommend. We hope they provide all the help you need to reach your goals!

Before you spend the money on a sex therapist…

Don’t get me wrong, I am a sex therapist – When you meet with me I’ll bring more than 10,000 hours of experience to the table to help you troubleshoot your difficulties and create a custom plan to reach your goals, But…

There’s a whole lot you can learn from reading some books, posts, and watching some videos that:

A) Might resolve your difficulty/answer your questions without spending the money,

B) Will help you get the most out of your time with a sex therapist, making faster progress to your goals.

So why not start with some FREE (or very cheap) resources and a little time?

Where to start…

Google is great, but you can’t trust everything that shows up in the search results. So, I’ve hand-curated a list of articles, books, and programs that I, as a certified sex therapist, frequently recommend to clients.

Hope you find them helpful 🙂

Free Sex Therapy Articles

• Help for Married Women With Low Sexual Desire

• She Wants Emotional Connection Before Sex

• How To Make Your Wife Cry | A Christian Man’s Guide to Sex

• What is Christian Sex Therapy?

• Why is Sex so Important to Men?

• Married Women’s Sexual Desire – What you need to know!

• Too Tired for Sex?

• Can’t Orgasm? Here’s How To Reach Climax

• Sex Shouldn’t Hurt – It’s Supposed To Feel Good

• Enjoying Healthy Sex After Sexual Assault – Molestation – Rape – Abuse

• Married Woman’s Guide To Sexual Confidence

• Sexy=Dirty? Did Sunday School Hurt Your Sex Life

Recommended Book Resources

1. The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse

   The Sexual Healing Journey helps survivors to:

   • identify the sexual effects of abuse
   • create a positive meaning for sex
   • develop a healthy sexual self-concept
   • gain control over upsetting automatic reactions to touch and sex
   • stop negative sexual behaviors
   • improve intimacy with a partner
   • learn a new approach to touch and sex
   • resolve sexual functioning concerns

2. A Celebration of Sex for Newlyweds

   NOT JUST FOR NEWLYWEDS. This is a guide to enjoying God’s gift of married sexual pleasure. A Celebration of Sex for Newlyweds answers specific, often unasked questions about sexual topics, and presents newly-married couples with detailed techniques and behavioral skills for learning sexual pleasure and intimate companionship. This book offers invaluable information in a professional yet sensitive style. If you have sex, or will be having sex, or hope to someday have sex ~ This book will help you! It may be the best $10 you spend this year.

3. Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction

   Dr. Mark Laaser is the leading Christian expert in sexual addiction. He and his wife (author of Shattered Vows) are founders of the ministry Faithful and True which helps thousands who struggle with pornography and sexual addiction through resources and workshops.

4. When Lost Men Come Home

   This book offers a Christ-centered application of the powerful 12 steps, developed and popularized by the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous for those who struggle with pornography and sexual addiction. Dave Zailer has created a new, unique handbook for the journey, marrying the biblical context to the proven spiritual 12 steps program.

5. Shattered Vows: Hope and Healing for Women Who Have Been Sexually Betrayed

   This sensitive and practical guide offers proven tools that help women struggling with sexual betrayal make wise and empowering decisions. Shattered Vows is inspired by the author’s personal journey through betrayal, her extensive work with hundreds of hurting women, and her intimate marriage two decades after the disclosure of her husband’s infidelity.

6. Sexual Identity: A Guide to Living in the Time Between the Times

   Most people who attempt to change their homosexual attractions and behaviors experience only partial success despite their best efforts. Written for Christians whose beliefs and values support their work towards chastity, this book offers a unique look at how they can manage and develop their sexual identity through a number of practical strategies.

7. The Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse

   You may think you don’t know anyone who has been sexually abused, especially if most of your friends and acquaintances are Christians. But the statistics indicate otherwise. The Wounded Heart is an intensely personal and specific look at this most “soul deadening” form of abuse. Personal because it may be affecting you, your spouse, a close friend or neighbor, or someone you know well at church; and specific because it goes well beyond the general issues and solutions discussed in other books. Dr. Allender’s book reaches deep into the wounded heart of someone you know, exploring the secret lament of the soul damaged by sexual abuse and laying hold of the hope buried there by the One whose unstained image we all bear.

Helpful Sex Therapy Links

• HealthySex.com / Wendy Maltz

  Wendy Maltz is a field-recognized expert in sex therapy. She addresses issues of sexual healing and freedom from pornography & sexual addiction. Though Wendy does not teach from an explicitly Christian perspective, many of her resources are intensely helpful.

• Bethesda Workshops

  Marnie Ferree and the team at Bethesda Workshops have put together a world class 4 day intensive treatment program for men and women who struggle with pornography and sexual addiction. The program is extremely effective and affordable. This program is Biblically Christian and clinically solid. Highly recommended.

• Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity (ISSI)

  Mark Yarhouse and the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity are the leading authorities on sexual identity issues including same-sex attraction and gender identity confusion. Their model for helping people with distressing same-sex attractions or gay, lesbian, bi-sexual issues (Sexual Identity Therapy) is cutting edge and completely compatible with the Christian faith.

  If you do need some additional help you can request an appointment with a certified sex therapist in-office or online from the convenience of your home. 

More Sex Therapy Articles

• Help for Married Women With Low Sex Drive

• How To Make Your Wife Cry | A Christian Man’s Guide to Sex

• Wives Sexual Desire | What You Need To Know.

• Why Enjoying Sex Matters for Married Women

• Too Tired for Sex? | Better Sex for Women

• What is Christian Sex Therapy?

• Christian Sex Therapy at MyCounselor.Online

References

1. Kaplan, H. S. (2013). New sex therapy: Active treatment of sexual dysfunctions. Routledge.
2. Leiblum, S. R. (Ed.). (2006). Principles and practice of sex therapy. Guilford Press.
3. LoPiccolo, J., & LoPiccolo, L. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of sex therapy. Springer Science & Business Media.
4. Hawton, K., Catalan, J., & Fagg, J. (1991). Low sexual desire: Sex therapy results and prognostic factors. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29(3), 217-224. [4]
5. Basson, R., Berman, J., Burnett, A., Derogatis, L., Ferguson, D., Fourcroy, J., … & Leiblum, S. (2000). Report of the international consensus development conference on female sexual dysfunction: definitions and classifications. The Journal of urology, 163(3), 888-893. [5]
6. Basson, R. (2000). The female sexual response: A different model. Journal of Sex &Marital Therapy, 26(1), 51-65. [6]
7. Basson, R., Leiblum, S., Brotto, L., Derogatis, L., Fourcroy, J., Fugl‐Meyer, K., … & Schover, L. (2004). Revised definitions of women’s sexual dysfunction. The journal of sexual medicine, 1(1), 40-48. [7]
8. Basson, R., Leiblum, S., Brotto, L., Derogatis, L., Fourcroy, J., Fugl-Meyer, K., … & Schover, L. (2003). Definitions of women’s sexual dysfunction reconsidered: advocating expansion and revision. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, 24(4), 221-229. [8]