Sexual Pharmacology (4 CE Hours, 2021)

Description: This workshop session will address a number of important aspects of sexual pharmacology about which all professionals working with sexual issues need to be informed.  The session will begin with an overview of the physiological and neurohormonal bases of sexual response and how those responses are theoretically mediated. This will then carry into a review and overview of the chemotherapeutic interventions currently available for the treatment of sexual dysfunctions and disorders, including many treatments that are coming “down the pike.”  Participants will then have the opportunity to discuss the sexual side effects of many of the more commonly used licit and illicit drugs, including those supplements purported to have pro-sexual effects. The final discussion of the session will focus on achieving an understanding of the need for comprehensive, integrated approaches to the treatment of sexual dysfunctions and disorders and the need for sexuality professionals to be better informed about the relationship between commonly-used substances and their impact on sexual functioning.

Learning Objectives:

Activity Schedule: 

2 – 3 Neurohormonal and Physiological Modulation of Sexual Response

3-4Review of the various chemotherapeutic interventions in the treatment of sexual dysfunctions and disorders

4-5 Sexual side-effects of commonly used licit and illicit drugs, including those substances purported to have “prosexual” effects

5-6 Development of comprehensive approaches to treating sexual disorders

Speaker Bio:

RICHARD M. SIEGEL, Ph.D., LMHC, CST, is the Director of Modern Sex Therapy Institutes, a postgraduate continuing education institute training sex therapists and sexual medicine specialists at multiple sites throughout the country. Dr. Siegel is a Florida-licensed mental health counselor and Board-certified sex therapist, and is certified by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) as a sex therapist and supervisor. He has a rich experiential background, including over 20 years working in sexuality education and addiction treatment, teaching on college campuses, and maintaining a private sex therapy practice. He enjoys a reputation as a seasoned and in-demand workshop and conference presenter, in addition to his work in training and supervising sex therapists.

Dr. Siegel has served AASECT as conference co-chair for three consecutive years, followed by two elected terms as Board Secretary, and has been appointed as the chair of the Supervisor Certification Committee. He is also a Clinical Member of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research (SSTAR), and served on the Executive Committee of that organization as its Membership Officer from 2015-2017.

He completed his Doctoral dissertation at the American Academy of Clinical Sexologists in Orlando, FL, with a research focus on the integration of healthy sexuality and addiction treatment. He has worked enthusiastically to integrate traditional sex therapy into the emergent specialty of sexual medicine, as well as the addiction treatment field.