Books / Systemic & family
The New Sex Therapy: Active Treatment of Sexual Dysfunctions
Helen Singer Kaplan’s The New Sex Therapy (1974) presents an approach to sexual difficulties that combines behavioural exercises with attention to individual and relationship concerns.
Book details
Author of listed edition: Helen Singer Kaplan
Edition: 1st edition (1974)
Publisher: Brunner/Mazel
Edition year: 1974
Language and origin: English (Austria / United States)
ISBN: 9780876300831
Form and genre: Treatment Manual & Clinical Guide
Level: Intermediate
Historical era: 1960–1979 · Humanistic, Cognitive & Systemic Turn
Covers: Kaplan’s model of sexual response and its clinical application; The author’s distinction between immediate and more remote influences on sexual difficulties; Behavioural exercises alongside individual and couple therapy; Historical descriptions of sexual difficulties
APA 7th reference: Kaplan, H. S. (1974). The new sex therapy: Active treatment of sexual dysfunctions. Brunner/Mazel.
What it is
Published in 1974, Kaplan’s clinical guide discusses sexual difficulties and treatment. It brings behavioural and psychodynamic ideas together in an approach that also considers relationships.
What it covers
Kaplan proposed a model of sexual response and distinguished immediate concerns, such as performance anxiety, from other psychological and relationship factors. Her model is a historical framework, not a universal sequence or complete account of sexual experience.
Historical context and later models
The book discusses behavioural exercises and psychotherapy. Later researchers proposed other ways to describe sexual response. For example, Rosemary Basson’s 2000 paper presented a model that considers variation in women’s desire and arousal, particularly in long-term relationships.
Reader level and educational scope
The book reflects the language and clinical assumptions of its time. This entry provides historical orientation rather than diagnosis, individual clinical advice or a treatment recommendation.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: Disorders of Sexual Desire and Other New Concepts and Techniques in Sex Therapy (Helen Singer Kaplan, 1979)
Reference: Kaplan, H. S. (1979). Disorders of sexual desire and other new concepts and techniques in sex therapy. Brunner/Mazel.
In this later book, Kaplan discussed sexual desire and extended her model of sexual response. Other models have since been proposed.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: Kaplan described excitement and orgasm as phases of sexual response and later included desire in a three-phase model. (The publisher describes the book and its contents; the complete text was not reviewed.) [Source 1: Kaplan, H. S. (1974). The new sex therapy: Active treatment of sexual dysfunctions. Brunner/Mazel (Routledge reprint).]
Claim 2: Kaplan presented an approach combining behavioural and psychodynamic perspectives. (This describes the author’s framework, not a guarantee of treatment outcome.) [Source 1: Kaplan, H. S. (1974). The new sex therapy: Active treatment of sexual dysfunctions. Brunner/Mazel (Routledge reprint).]
Sources and inspection notes
Supports: Pending verification: Publisher information for the book and its general approach; the full text was not reviewed.
Supports: Pending verification: Publisher information for Kaplan’s later book on sexual desire; the full text was not reviewed.
Supports: Abstract presents a later model of women’s sexual response and recognises variation; it does not establish a universal model.