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In a recent article in this journal, Susan Pacey (2019) posited that psychotherapeutic treatments for sexual problems in couples are split between psychodynamic psychotherapy, which focuses on the mind, and psychosexual or sex therapy, which focuses on the body, principally using the intervention “sensate focus” (Masters & Johnson, 1970). Her qualitative study of couple therapists qualified in both psychodynamic and psychosexual approaches concluded that in current professional training programmes: couple psychotherapy was separated from psychosexual approaches; sensate focus was taught as a cognitive-behavioural exercise with little thought given to its emotional-relational aspects and impact on transference relationships; trainees were not learning about sex in their own therapy; and working in an integrated manner risked alienating senior supervisors and teachers who held to mainstream split approaches. Pacey asserted that professional trainings “lag behind” in integrating the two perspectives and that:
sex therapists and psychodynamic psychotherapists alike have a lacuna in their concepts and practice, each offering one half of sexuality: physical and social on the one hand, and psychological and relational on the other. (2019, p. 194)
and that “this professional bifurcation in the treatment of sexual difficulties risks perpetuating an unsatisfactory service for clients” (2019, p. 181). In agreement with Pacey's conclusions, I wish to emphasise that our field should excogitate the value and ethics of an interdisciplinary focus in professional training culling wisdom from the richness of diverse perspectives.
When asked to comment on Pacey's assertions from my perspective as Chair of the Couple, Child, and Family Program at the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI), I informed the editor that, coincidentally, I had been a participant in Pacey's study whilst attending a summer institute at Tavistock Relationships. Therefore, I offer commentary with transparency