Sexual Wellness

updated for a new workbook (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sexual Wellness)

Believe it or not, sexual wellness is not defined within the field of psychology. A literature review of both psychology and medicine literature databases identified three articles. A search of “sexual wellness” on the Internet also finds few resources. The vast number of websites focus on functioning better, preventing disease, or preventing pregnancy. Other websites focus on sexual toys. Very few websites address a robust definition of wellness. It is a new concept when we address sexual wellness.

To move toward a definition of sexual wellness, it is helpful to understand wellness. The website definitionofwellness.com provides a nice definition I like. They even talk about dimensions of wellness, but of course one of the missing dimensions is sexual wellness.

Given the lack of an existing definition, the definition of sexual wellness I am establishing for this workbook is that sexual wellness is the movement toward sexual health. Sexual Wellness is the active participation of the individual in his or her life by addressing the numerous issues within sexual health. This requires active participation and movement. The purpose of this workbook is to help expand specific topics from the literature to help you move toward improved sexual health. The process is what we define as sexual wellness. While I cover a number of topics, the information is simply the tip of the iceberg. You are encouraged to seek out and find more information.