Treatment Planning and Interventions · Sensate Focus Staging

Advance, Hold, or Step Back

Six couples part way through a staged programme. Read each against the advancement criteria rather than against how well things seem to be going, because two of the six are going well and are not ready.

What this exercise practises

Using the advancement criteria as criteria, recognising a contraindication when the client is reporting it as progress, and treating non-completion as the most informative event in the treatment rather than as a compliance problem.

Two of each verdict. A sort that comes out with four in one bin has something in the wrong place, and the notes will say which.

Estimated time to complete this exercise: 20 minutes

1Six couples
2Non-completion
3Close

Before you begin

How this one works

Six couples, each part way through a staged sensate focus programme. For each one, decide whether to advance a stage, hold where they are, or step back.
Read each against the advancement criteria in Figure 4.1 rather than against how well things seem to be going. Two of the six are going well and are not ready.
Two of each verdict. If your sort comes out with four in one bin, something is in the wrong place.
Nothing is graded and nothing is recorded. Reloading starts it again.

Progression between stages is paced according to clinical response rather than according to a fixed timeline. Each stage has its own rule and its own advancement criteria, and the criteria are specific enough to be checked rather than estimated.

References

  1. Brotto, L. A., Basson, R., & Luria, M. (2012). A mindfulness-based group psychoeducational intervention targeting sexual arousal disorder in women. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5(7), 1646–1659. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008.00850.x
  2. Heiman, J. R., & LoPiccolo, J. (1988). Becoming orgasmic: A sexual and personal growth program for women (Rev. ed.). Prentice Hall.
  3. Masters, W. H., & Johnson, V. E. (1970). Human sexual inadequacy. Little, Brown.
  4. Weiner, L., & Avery-Clark, C. (2014). Sensate focus: Clarifying the Masters and Johnson model. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 29(3), 307–319. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2014.892920