Book excerpt: First published in 1975. The last two decades have brought remarkable advances in our knowledge of human sexuality. These data are in the process of being assimilated into the main body of psychiatric thought, which is being greatly enriched thereby. Our increased understanding of sexuality is also currently being translated into innovative new approaches to the treatment of sexual difficulties. These developments promise relief to many persons with distressing sexual problems who were previously thought to be beyond help. At the present time, the specific approach to sex therapy described in this volume is being employed, further developed and, most important, systematically evaluated at the Sex Therapy and Education Program of the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic of the Cornell University-New York Hospital Center. The Cornell program is psychiatrically oriented. It regards sex therapy as a specialized branch of psychotherapy. The Clinic conceives of sexual dysfunctions as psychosomatic symptoms and it’s orientation is multicausal and eclectic in that it believes that sexual dysfunctions are the product of multiple etiologic factors, and our treatment armamentarium comprises an amalgam of experiential, behavioral and dynamically oriented modalities.