All About Genophobia, the Fear of Sexual Intercourse, & How To Overcome it with CBT, Therapy & Counselling in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

What is Genophobia?

Genophobia is the fear of Sexual Intercourse and may be caused by a range of different ‘experiences’ in a persons life.

It is more commonly experienced by women but men are also known to develop this phobia too.

There may also be cultural, religious or moral beliefs leading to Genophobia problems.

Genophobia may also be a sub-set of other related problems such as sexual performance anxiety, low self esteem and so on.

All phobias, regardless of what the feared object or circumstances are, produce feelings of Anxiety and Stress for the sufferer, and Genophobia is no different in this sense.

Whilst the feared object or situation may seem, to other people, to be ‘ridiculous’ or ‘silly’, the person who suffers from Genophobia knows only too well that the Anxiety that they experience is real enough.

We completely understand this and will treat you and your Genophobia seriously.

Genophobia Symptoms

The symptoms of Genophobia are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include:

• Generalised Anxiety
• Control issues
• Feelings of depression
• Insomnia & sleeping problems
• Low Self-Confidence
• Panic attacks
• Stress
• Avoidance and safety behaviours

Genophobia Symptoms are generally automatic and uncontrollable and can seem to take over a person’s thoughts which frequently leads to extreme measures being taken to avoid the feared object or situation, what are known as “Safety” or “Avoidance” behaviours.

Unfortunately, for the sufferer, these safety behaviours have a paradoxical effect and actually reinforce the phobia rather than solve it!

Genophobia may be the result of negative emotional experiences that can be either directly or indirectly linked to the object or situational fear.

Over time, the symptoms often become “normalised” and “accepted” as limiting beliefs in that person’s life – “I’ve learnt to live with it.”

In just as many cases, Genophobia may have become worse over time as more and more sophisticated safety behaviours and routines are developed.

The good news is that the vast majority of people who suffer from Genophobia will find a course of Psychological Therapy helps enormously.

Causes of Genophobia

As with many psychological ‘problems’ there really is no single cause of Genophobia.

Sexuality in human beings has long been a highly debated and controversial area of natural human existence.

Religious ideology around the sex act may be attached to ‘shame’ and is frequently imbued with the idea that ‘sex should only be for reproduction’ rather than for pleasure.

People who believe (for whatever reason) that sex is somehow ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ and more likely to trigger negative emotional responses when encountering a sexually intimate moment.

Within many different cultures, a great deal of ‘expectation’ may be ‘heaped’ onto couples to ‘produce grandchildren’ or ‘heirs’ and people may find this ‘pressure’ diminishes the value of the ‘intimacy’ of sexual union turning it into a ‘duty’ rather than a pleasurable experience.

This pressure may lead to feelings that it is solely for the benefit of others and not the two people involved.

This pressure to perform often presents itself as sexual performance anxiety.

Another potential cause of Genophobia is the fear of childbirth (Tokophobia).

If a person becomes sufficiently worried about the idea of ‘painful’ childbirth then it is not too difficult to see how this might result in abstaining from sexual intercourse, or indeed seeing the sexual act as the problem itself.

Anybody who has suffered some form of abuse or ‘trauma’ associated with the sex act may also develop Genophobia, but this is by no means a definitive indicator.

The Human mind is capable of creating an almost infinitely variable set of associations with this most ‘primitive’ biological ‘urge’ and so the range of potential causes is almost as infinite.

Therapy & Counselling for Genophobia

Tranceform offer a range of psychological therapy and counselling solutions for Genophobia which you can read about below.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Genophobia

If you’re committed to overcoming your Genophobia problems then we highly recommend following our Advanced Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul which is available as an Online Therapy as well as a self-directed programme.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic psychotherapy course, run over 10 sessions.

It will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify how unhelpful thinking and limiting beliefs might be reinforcing the issue, and then show you how to make any changes to your unhelpful thinking styles.

Our Tranceformental CBT programme is an evidence-based, research supported approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Free Initial Consultations for Genophobia

We offer all prospective clients an initial consultation to discuss your Genophobia prior to commencing any treatment plans.

The consultation is free and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available as part of our online therapy service.

At TranceForm Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss our change programmes BEFORE proceeding.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.