Kaplan's+Psychosexual+Therapy

Jonathan Abplanalp = Kaplan’s Psychosexual Therapy  = ** Helen Singer Kaplan ** Helen Singer Kaplan was born on February 6, 1929 in Vienna, Austria. She came to the United States at the age of 11 and became a citizen at the age of 18. She attended Syracuse University from which she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1951. She then went on to receive her master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University in 1952. Kaplan later went on to complete her PhD in psychology at Columbia in 1955. She earned a medical degree at New York Medical College in 1959 and also went back there and completed a course in psychoanalysis in 1970. Helen Singer Kaplan was a highly renowned sex therapist that used her knowledge and training to develop techniques of therapy that combined psychoanalysis with behavioral methods Although Kaplan is not as well known as some other famous sex therapists she is still //“considered a leader among scientific-oriented sex therapists”// (Saxon 1995). After Kaplan went through all her schooling and training she was working as a clinical professor of psychiatry and in 1970 she became the founder of the Human Sexuality Program at the Payne Whitney Clinic. This Clinic was one of the country’s highest regarded psychiatric clinics and was a part of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center complex. The program Kaplan developed included and outpatient clinic that was able to evaluate and treat psychosexual disorders. The human sexuality program and the clinic provided opportunities for postgraduate training for physicians and mental-health professionals as well. Kaplan was the director of all education and training programs for Cornell and remained the director until she died of Cancer in 1995. ** Kaplan’s Take on Sex Therapy ** Helen Singer Kaplan was considered to be a pioneer in adapting the work done by two well known sex therapists Master’s and Johnson, the founders of sex therapy. She took their techniques of sex therapy and tweaked them to appeal to people who didn’t have time to take off for two weeks to undergo the therapy that was created by Master’s and Johnson, and she incorporated techniques that followed her beliefs on sex therapy. Kaplan viewed the human sexual response as consisting of three separate, but intertwined phases: desire, arousal, and orgasm. She proclaimed that the desire phase was the hardest phase to treat linking it to people’s unconscious psychological difficulties. Her views on sex therapy and sexual dysfunctions or difficulties, for example erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation, agreed with most others in the sex therapy field in that sexual difficulties often had superficial origins. Although agreeing with most others on that part, she was a firm believer that in case the patient had a deep down unconscious conflict, it could point to deep emotional problems which would require more of an analytical therapy from the therapist. //“The objectives of the two traditional forms of treatment for sexual disorders, psychotherapy and marital therapy, are comprehensive. Psychoanalytic treatment attempts to reconstruct the patients personality by fostering resolution of his unconscious conflicts similarly marriage therapy tries to improve the quality of the couple’s total relationship by helping them resolve previously unrecognized destructive transactions. Within the context of psychotherapy or marital therapy, sexual symptoms are seen as reflections of underlying conflicts and problems and their relief is viewed as a product of the resolution of these more basic issues”// (Kaplan 1974). With these views and ideas she holds towards the unconscious difficulties of sexual dysfunctions, her approach to sex therapy was seen as psychosexual therapy to distinguish it from the previously known standard form of sex therapy.

** Kaplan’s Treatment ** Helen Kaplan developed her own style of treatment for sex therapy, or for better words based on her ideas and beliefs her own style of treatment for Psychosexual Therapy. She developed this treatment around her ideas while still following the ultimate goal of all sex therapy: to relieve sexual dysfunction. //“Sex therapy differs from traditional forms of treatment in two respects: first, the objectives of sex therapy are essentially limited to relief of the patients sexual dysfunction; second, sex therapy is distinguished by its use of sexual and communicative tasks as an integral part of treatment”// (Kaplan 1974). Kaplan’s treatment comes from not just her ideas but a lot from other sex therapists, and people around her as she competed her clinicals and training through medical school. //“It represents the confluence of multiple theoretical influences: analysis, behavior therapy, psychosomatic medicine, and the group therapies”// (Kaplan 1974). Her treatment for sex therapy is essentially her variation on many of the things other sex therapists around were doing. She gives great amounts of credit to the writings and material learned from Master’s and Johnson, the founders of sex therapy, for the development of her ways of psychosexual therapy. Kaplan started her style of treatment as when she was working at New York Medical College and they served many underprivileged areas of New York City. Many people sought help for sexual dysfunctions but couldn’t afford the time and money away from work to head to St. Louis to undergo treatment from Master’s and Johnson. They originally didn’t take patients with sexual problems but then began to and did so in an efficient way. They would do so as quickly but as thoroughly as possible. What set Kaplan’s treatment aside from others treatment plans was that she relied a lot of giving her patients tasks to practice or carry out at home rather than being held up for two weeks and being observed. If the couple couldn’t make it together one of the partners would be seen alone and would relay the tasks to the other partner back at home. Kaplan wrote a book, which was composed of illustrations of techniques of therapy that she was giving to patients. This book was looked upon as a take home reference book that allowed couples to undergo treatment without having to come into the clinic. She was a firm believer of keeping the tasks in the bedroom and at home rather than placing these couples out of their normal context which is one of the main differences from her techniques compared to those of other sex therapists. One of Kaplan’s main stressing points was to encourage people to enjoy having sex and not stress about it. She has always stressed this but later in her practices AIDS became a huge issue in the United States. //"I absolutely hate having to say that," sighs Kaplan, who founded and directs the human-sexuality program at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, the first created within a medical institution. "I have spent my whole life devising solutions to people's problems, telling them that sex is not dirty or harmful, but a natural function. And now I have to tell them, 'Hey, look out. You could die.' "// (Hacker 1987) Kaplan hates that she has to add this for people to be safe but past that her treatment ways and styles are highly regarded among many people for her psychosexual therapy.

H.S. Kaplan, //The New Sex Therapy//. Brunner/Mazel, New York, 1974.
 * References **

H.S. Kaplan, //The Illustrated Manual of Sex Therapy//. Quadrangle/New York Times, New York, 1975.

H. Kaplan, //Disorders of Sexual Desire//. Brunner/Mazel, New York, 1979.

Saxon, Wolfgang (1995). "Dr. Helen Kaplan, 66, Dies; Pioneer in Sex Therapy Field". //The New York Times.// Hacker, Kathy (1987-11-08). "Warning Women About AIDS for Years". //The Philadelphia Inquirer.//