It isn’t all talk: Couple therapy results in more improvements for women who have pain during sex relative to a common medical treatment

By Katrina Bouchard;
This post is a summary of a recently published article from the Couples and Sexual Health Lab with our close collaborators at Université de Montréal:
Bergeron, S., Vaillancourt-Morel, M.-P., Corsini-Munt, S., Steben, M., Delisle, I., Mayrand, M.-H., & Rosen, N. O. (2021). Cognitive-behavioral couple therapy versus lidocaine for provoked vestibulodynia: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 89, 316-326. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000631

Sexual Talk in Long-Term Relationships: What’s Being Left Under the Covers?

Believe it or not, the key to keeping sex exciting and satisfying in long term relationships may be communication! We know that sexual communication (e.g., couples having a conversation about their sexual preferences at a time when they are not engaging in sexual activity) is beneficial for the relationship and sexual well-being of couples [1]. But what about the potential benefits of communication during sex? Sexual talk refers to the communication that occurs between partners exclusively during sexual activity and that is about the sexual interaction itself (i.e., expressing to one’s partner the pleasure they feel while engaging in a sexual act) [2]. Yet, sexual talk has largely been kept under the covers一until now!

Tried and True: Exploring the Best Vulvodynia Treatment Options

Photo by Dainis Graveris from Unsplash

By Brenna Bagnell; This blog is a summary of our published article: Rosen, N. O., Dawson, S., Brooks, M., & Kellogg-Spadt, S. (2019). Treatment of vulvodynia: Pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Drugs, 79, 483-493. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-019-01085-1

“I think she can manage the pain?”: The role of partner perceptions in women’s postpartum pain during sex

By Meghan Rossi This blog is a summary of our published article: Rossi, M. A., Maxwell, J. A., & Rosen, N. O. (2020). Biased partner perceptions of women’s pain self-efficacy for postpartum pain during intercourse: A longitudinal dyadic examination. The Journal of Pain, 21(9-10), 1047-1059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2020.01.006 Childbirth increases a woman’s risk of developing pain during sex [1-3]. This pain […]

Why do men report more sexual partners than women?

By Justin Dubé Given that sex tends to be a private activity, we often rely on the “honour system” when conducting sex research: we ask people to self-report aspects of their sexual lives and trust them to be honest. This is one reason why sex researchers strive (and struggle!) to reconcile differences in the number […]

Getting the spark back: The benefits of self-expansion for couples coping with low desire

By Stephanie Raposo, PhD This blog is a summary of our published article: Raposo, S., Rosen, N. O., & Muise, A. (2020). Self-expansion is associated with greater relationship and sexual well-being for couples coping with low sexual desire. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 37, 602–623. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519875217 Sex has lasting benefits for many people’s well-being [1], but […]

Myth Busting: Sex After Baby

By: Erin T. Fitzpatrick There are many commonly held beliefs about what sex will (or won’t) look like after the transition to parenthood. In this blog post, we will debunk of a few of these myths!   MYTH: Everyone will be ready to have sex 6-weeks after giving birth. FACT: Your doctor may suggest that […]