Sexuality and Intimacy
Problems with sexuality can affect two kinds of relationships: the one you have with your own body and the one you share with your spouse or partner. When your level of sexual functioning is not what you want it to be, or your level of sexual desire is too low, feelings of failure and inadequacy can make the problem seem even worse, and a sense of distance can replace the intimate closeness you once enjoyed with your spouse or partner. Many people have the misunderstanding that sexual dysfunction or a decrease in sexual desire means one cannot have a satisfying sex life, but that is simply not true.
Having sexual difficulties in a relationship is not a moral failure, and the first step to dealing with those difficulties is to remove the shame and blaming that often accompany them. Everyone deserves a rewarding sex life, and this is possible, once stress and anxiety are removed from sex and replaced with acceptance and understanding. Problems such as low sexual desire, erectile dysfunction, or lack of orgasm often lead couples to abandon their sex lives altogether. But these problems, in and of themselves, do not interfere with sex. Instead, the interference comes with how we deal with these problems, quite often by withdrawing and letting physical intimacy drain out of the relationship. Many people regard sex as a matter of performance, when in reality, sex is a way to be emotionally connected with the person you love.
If that connection has been lost, you can have it again. If you are feeling the loneliness and sorrow that comes from low sexual desire or sexual dysfunction, then please understand there is hope for you and a way forward that can restore the physcial and emotional closeness you want in your relationship.