East Toronto Therapy

pelvic pain

Mindfulness for Sexual Pleasure

I recently wrote about men and low desire, and women and low desire, acknowledging that many people have desire difficulties. And that in fact, what is commonly seen as low desire is usually more accurately a case of responsive desire…desire that shows up part way through a sexual encounter, so long as a person is …

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When you can’t have sex

By Sarah Dale, MSc., RP What happens when you can’t have sex? Some women have difficulty with penetration, both sexual and non-sexual types of penetration, due to a condition commonly referred to as vaginismus. Vaginismus, (also known as pelvic floor dysfunction), may be include pain, worry about pain or other concerns and/or muscle tightening that …

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Anxiety and Sex

In my previous post, I discussed anxiety in general. In this post, I’ll discuss anxiety specifically in relation to sex. Anxiety and sexual dysfunction go hand in hand. Whatever the sexual difficulty (low desire, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, delayed ejaculation, pelvic pain, or inability to orgasm) anxiety is usually involved to some degree. In some …

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Call for Participants: Research Study on the Inability to Have Sexual Intercourse

In addition to working as a sex therapist in Toronto, I’m also a doctoral student in Human Sexuality at Widener University. As part of my dissertation for my PhD, I am recruiting participants for a study on the experience of people who are in heterosexual relationships but have been unable to have sexual intercourse (or …

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Pelvic Pain Group for Women

Keeping Connected is offering a new group on pelvic pain. The group will be eight weeks long for women experiencing pain with intercourse (dyspareunia) due to pelvic floor dysfunction, vestibulodynia, vulvar vestibulitis, vulvodynia, or interstitial cystitis. This group will be led by Keeping Connected psychotherapist and Registered Sex Therapist Adrienne Bairstow, MSW, RSW, RMFT. The …

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When Sex Hurts

For far too many women, sexual intercourse is painful. Yet when the address this pain with their doctor, they may be told that there is nothing wrong with them. In fact, these women may have vulvodynia or vaginismus. Vulvodynia and vaginismus are common causes of pelvic pain and dysapreunia (painful intercourse). Vulvodynia refers to chronic …

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