Basic Understanding of Human Sexuality

Abstract

Chapter 3 deals with the basic understanding of human sexuality in its inseparable biological, psychological and social aspects, concerning issues of gender as well as of sex. Pragmatically three dimensions of sexuality are distinguished: desire, reproduction and attachment, the latter often remaining unreflected, but neurobiologically just as rooted as the other two. Attachment develops from communication. Both terms are interchangeable, thus, human sexuality is specifically equipped with a communicative function. To conceptualize this more specifically, the term “syndyastic” (transferred from the Greek “syndyasticós” employed by Aristotle) has been introduced.

While in everyday practice most patients do not perceive sexuality as part of their communication process, syndyastic sexual therapy integrates it as the sexual form of expressing attachment, regardless of sexual orientation, in this way releasing its salutogenic potential.