Touch therapy may end bed fear of newlyweds

When touch did not work for newlyweds Piya and Hitarth, the couple went for touch therapy wherein the focus should be to touch and experience each other without focusing on intercourse and orgasm! 
    The couple sought treatment for Un-Consummated Marriage (UCM) after Hitarth reported failure to perform in the bed. 
    Experts say that touch therapy or ‘Sensate Focus’ is a key therapy devised by Masters and Johnson for couples with UCM. It aims at increasing personal and interpersonal awareness of self and the other’s needs. Each participant is encouraged to focus on their own varied sense experience, rather than to see orgasm as the sole goal of sex. 
    “Sensate focus is a term usually associated with a set of specific sexual exercises for couples or for individuals. Majority patients respond to this in the third week of therapy as the anxiety to perform reduces,” says Dr Paras Shah. 
    Dr Hansal Bhachech says, “As the man reports increasing awareness and attention paid to these holistic sense aspects of sex, potency often returns. This works well for women too. Women report more sensation in their vagina, and lubrication.” 
    Experts say that the basic modules to treat UCM include giving couples correct information about sexual intercourse and removing the anxiety associated with performance. 
    “There are specific communities even locally where the tradition of showing blood-stained bed-sheet to relatives after the first night of marriage still exists in this days and generation. This practice puts a lot of pressure on the couples to perform, leading many to become victims of anxiety,” said Dr Shah. 
    According to the experts, many couples are misguided about the techniques and positions. 
    They are shown audio-visual slides to remove their misconceptions about the sexual life. This helps in putting things in the correct perspective, say experts.