Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy [Hardcover]

Shelley K. Green (Editor), Douglas Flemons (Editor), Shelly K. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0393703819 | ISBN-13: 978-0393703818

The authors gather a wonderful array of approaches to brief sex therapy, each presented by a well known therapist in the field. Pleasure and humour are highlighted - the office and the bed - as readers are remined that the point of sex therapy is a sexual change.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A refreshing addition to any therapist's collection of sex therapy resources...a great read of innovative insight -- Journal of Family Psychotherapy, Heather Guttormson

Helpful for the practicing clinician...Its strength is in helping clinicians understand how experts in sex therapy treat specific clinical problems. -- Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, Jennifer Nelson & Tim Nelson, Friends University

About the Author

Shelley K. Green and Douglas Flemons live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393703819
• ISBN-13: 978-0393703818
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,233,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!!!, April 19, 2007

By 

A. Ramirez "A.J. Ramirez" (Southeast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy (Hardcover)

Dear Dr. Green and Dr. Flemons,

After reading your book, Quickies the Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy, I discovered sex therapy could be possible for someone like me! I had been baffled for about a year thinking how sex therapy could occur in the therapy room in a brief and systemic way. Your book managed to put my questions into perspective. I particularly found the Narrative approach to be very helpful. Using a literary metaphor as opposed to the medical model made perfect sense to me. I have found it to be very popular in the mental health field to rely on the medical model in order to make sense of the "problem." However, the eclectic/narrative stance brought about a very new intriguing way in which sex therapy could be incorporated. The book brought out a systemic way towards sex therapy in which the clients do not have to feel someone is "wrong." I must have reread this segment at least 5 times. How wonderful it is to have a conversation with clients without having to identify someone to blame. The book gave me an understanding of how to include externalizing in therapy. For example, the idea that "the problem is the problem" as opposed to "person is the problem" liberated me and my clients from the ongoing trap of medicalizing therapy.
The book presented a good look at therapy in a systemic/cybernetic fashion. I was intrigued by each chapter's introductory paragraphs. The book provided profound insight into the techniques and concepts that were to be applied in the case vignettes. I discovered how much I benefited from the first few paragraphs of each chapter.
The uses of case vignettes were very helpful as well. As a graduate student struggling to learn how to incorporate techniques within a systemic foundation, the vignettes helped display how these skills were used. Specifically in chapter eight, you speak about a relational approach to sex therapy. This chapter helped me experience the importance of a systemic approach in therapy. For example, the chapter mentions, never to focus on just one relationship at a time, but to be aware of other changes in the couples' lives. This allows flexibility and relational freedom to the clients' relationships with whatever the problem may be. Information such as this helped me as the reader grasp the overall concept of the books message.
One aspect of the book that took me a bit off guard was the title. When I first read the title I had some anticipation that the book would be a bit more sexual. For example, sexual in the sense that it would include more graphic details about sexual experiences and styles. However, the book ended up being much more informative than I had expected. The title had me thinking different things about the book as opposed to what I had ended up reading.
The book overall was very enlightening. It was one of those books that never end up on the shelf read only once. The book served more than just a manual for me, but also a very enjoyable read.

Thanks,
A.J. Ramirez

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful foreplay, April 20, 2007

By 

Miss Manuel "Miss Manuel" (Valdosta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy (Hardcover)

Quickies served as wonderful foreplay! Several thoughts in the book provoked ideas and challenges, which have helped me to evolve into a better and more aware therapist. The highlight of the book can be found on page 174. This section discusses the therapist's exploration and evaluation of self when seeing clients. The questions were very useful. I believe I can apply this idea to every client, based on their particular incoming issue, simply by rephrasing the questions.

I also particularly enjoyed Chapter Eight - Just Between Us: A Relational Approach to Sex Therapy. I really appreciated the distinction that was made between professional and personal conversation made on page 127. I think that that is something very important to highlight. In addition, reading the section on Relational Sex Therapy was very helpful to my development as a therapist. I could really appreciate and understand your understanding of the multiple relationships that exist within the therapy room. This concept indirectly reiterates the importance of going into the therapy room from a stance of curiosity. This resonates with my own therapeutic assumptions and orientation. By taking a not-knowing posture, the therapist is being non-assuming and showing genuine interest by asking questions to the client. A great example of this is described on page 175 regarding gay and lesbian clients.

Furthermore, great conversations were explored in my Masters level Couples and Sex Therapy class. Your book initiated discussions about a variety of topics, such as some of the following:
* Is there really a difference between making love and having sex?
* What is "making hate"?
* The struggle between parents and children to talk about sex
* Is nudity sexual?
* The definition of sexual intercourse
* One's relation to sex vs. the relation to the person you're having sex with
* Language separation - being female vs. feminine and being male vs. masculine
* The concept of there being more than just two sex types

So, yes, in my opinion, you have accomplished your third goal of "stimulating conversations and further explorations of brief sex therapy." Hence, I am thankful for your thoughts on the subject matter. It has influenced my ideas and created a better understanding of therapy. Thank you.
[...]

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, April 18, 2007

By 

L. Queen "MFT In Training" (Valdosta State University) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy (Hardcover)

Dr. Shelley Green and Dr. Douglas Flemons,

I am a student in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. One of our professors, Martha Laughlin, used your book for one of our classes: Couples and Sex. I must say that for an overall read, being a student, it was very educational and helpful to me in my journey towards being a marriage and family therapist. The use of case illustrations, while intertwining the disciplines of Batesonian systemic thinking, helped me to more clearly understand how to apply these principals that I am learning. Additionally, when reading through the case illustrations, I was able to apply the teachings of my sociology background, such as social construction and dominant social narratives, and have a clearer understanding of how these can be used in therapy.
On account of personal preference, I found certain chapters more interesting than others. Chapter ten, "How Do Therapists of Same-Sex Couples `Do It'?" was a favorite of mine. Being open to either an opposite-sex or same-sex relationship myself, I could relate to the information described in both chapter ten and chapter two. It is true that there is limited research that can speak about the sexual difficulties of same-sex relationships, and I was glad to see that you both included these chapters. I found this book to also be intriguingly humorous. The double-meanings in some chapter headings such as, "Come Again? From Possibility Therapy to Sex Therapy," "Out of My Office and Into the Bedroom," "Just Between Us: A Relational Approach to Sex Therapy," "Who Really Wants to Sleep With the Medical Model? An Eclectic/Narrative Approach to Sex Therapy," and my personal favorite, "How Do Therapists of Same-Sex Couples `Do It'?" were a delightful aspect to the book. As mentioned in the introduction of this book, these chapter headings and titles grab the reader's attention and hold it there. Sex therapy is indeed a "serious business," but the lightheartedness of these chapter headings makes the book not only a "serious" read, but a fun one too. It is refreshing to know that you can read one of your class books for fun. You had mentioned in the introduction that this was one of your motives. Well, in my opinion you succeeded.
One other chapter that I enjoyed was chapter six, and how author Thorana S. Nelson "briefly" spoke about the different parts of family therapy that have helped to form her orientation to therapy, structural, Bowenian, behavioral, solution-focused, and narrative. For me, as a reader this helped me to better articulate the views behind the therapist and why she chose certain interventions. As a therapist, it is my orientation that you have to be able to make sense of your client's behavior in order to form that therapeutic relationship of change. Vice versa, it is helpful for me to be able to make sense of the therapist in order to understand how change occurred.
The book was well written; therefore, I did not find anything to be significantly confusing. I understand that as a writer/editor, it is more helpful to receive criticisms as opposed to praise, but I do not want to find myself trapped into trying to find something out of nothing. Yet, this did not surprise me considering that I agree with the majority of the ideologies contained in the book. If anything, what I gained most from this book was a better understanding of how to put these theoretical principals into practice. It was an "out of the book and into my therapy room" experience. Thank You for this.

L. Queen
Valdosta State University
Family Therapy Student