If the reactions between the patient and the doctor are to be studied as a way of illuminating the patient’s problem, it is necessary for the doctor to be aware of his or her normal doctoring style. It is then possible to recognize changes from this norm, and to think about what it is in [...]
Marital therapists, or couple therapists, work with the couple on the relationship between them. Referral for marital therapy will be more effective when there is agreement between the couple that changes in the relationship are required. Specific training in sexual difficulties is taken by selected therapists who work for Relate Marriage Guidance, or facilities may [...]
Patients in the older group may have anxieties about whether they should be still sexually active and hide their requests for advice about contraception behind other complaints such as vaginal soreness or period problems in the same way as those just beginning their sexual life. They may need to try out a different doctor from [...]
Serious marital or sexual problems are unlikely to be improved by sterilization of either partner, and one of the most important tasks of the pre-sterilization consultation is to identify the hopes and expectations of the couple. Not infrequently the man may hope that it will make his wife more interested in sex. One man blamed [...]
This chapter is written from the point of view of doctors working in Britain with patients from other cultures, rather than about doctors who work abroad. This author’s experience as a general practitioner working with recent immigrants in Tower Hamlets, a deprived inner city area of London, will illustrate the most obvious problems of cultural [...]