Infertility and Mental Health: The Emotional Toll Nobody Talks About
Infertility is a medical diagnosis. It is also, for most people who experience it, one of the most psychologically destabilizing things that can happen. The two facts do not always get equal attention, and that imbalance does real harm.
In fifteen years of clinical practice, I have worked with many people navigating fertility challenges, and the emotional toll tends to be both underestimated by the medical system and underreported by individuals who feel they should be coping better. You are not obligated to cope better. What you are navigating is genuinely hard.
How to Talk to Your Partner About Sexual Pain
If you have ever tried to bring up sexual pain with a partner, you probably already know that it is one of the hardest conversations to start. There is a lot riding on it: fear of being misunderstood, worry about your partner's reaction, and often a thick undercurrent of guilt for something that is not your fault to begin with.
I have sat with hundreds of women who have navigated this exact conversation, and I want to offer what I have learned from both the research and the room.
Pelvic Pain and Mental Health: The Connection Most People Miss
Pelvic Pain and Mental Health: The Connection Most People Miss
When someone comes to see me about pelvic pain, I'm not just listening to a physical complaint. I'm listening to a person who is usually exhausted, often demoralized, and in many cases has already spent months or years being told that nothing is seriously wrong. By the time they get to my office, the pain and everything that comes with it have become deeply intertwined — and pulling them apart is the whole job.
Why Does Sex Hurt? A Psychologist’s Take on Painful Sex
Why Does Sex Hurt? A Psychologist's Take on Painful Sex
Here's something that doesn't get said nearly enough: painful sex is common, it is not your fault, and it is not something you just have to live with.
I've spent 15 years working with women who experience pelvic and sexual pain, and the pattern I see most often isn't a particular diagnosis. It's a person who has been hurting quietly for months or years, who has been told things are "normal" on a pelvic exam, or who has simply never felt safe enough to bring it up. Sexual pain is one of the most underreported health issues there is — not because it's rare, but because the shame around it keeps people silent.
What Does a Sex Therapist Actually Do?
What Does a Sex Therapist Actually Do?
If you've ever Googled "sex therapist" and immediately closed the tab, you're not alone. There's a lot of confusion about what sex therapy actually involves — and quite a bit of unnecessary anxiety about what it doesn't. So let's clear it up.
Vulvodynia: What It Is and Why It's Underdiagnosed
Vulvodynia is one of the most common causes of chronic vulvar pain in women, and one of the most consistently underdiagnosed. If you have been experiencing burning, stinging, irritation, or rawness in the vulvar area with no clear cause, you are not imagining it, and you are not alone.
Here is what I want you to know about this condition: it is real, it is recognized in the medical literature, and there are effective treatments. The problem is that many women never reach those treatments because they spend years searching for a diagnosis.
Discrepant Sexual Desire in Relationships | Tami-Lee Duncan, RPsych
When One of You Wants More (Or Less): Understanding Discrepant Sexual Desire
If you and your partner aren't always on the same page sexually, you're in very good company. Research suggests that up to 80% of couples regularly experience situations where one partner wants sex and the other doesn't.