One of the best things about sex therapy is that it's relatively short-term - it's not going to go on forever. Sex therapy is a form of relatively brief psychotherapy that's focused specifically on the sexual problem you and your mate are having-it's not about dredging up every childhood trauma you ever had, as might be the case with, say, Freudian psychoanalysis.

"If I'm treating a sexual problem that's occurring within a relatively intact marriage, treatment might take anywhere from 8 to 20 sessions," says, Ph.D., a sex therapist in private practice in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "Those sessions might be spaced out differently, and the total length of treatment varies depending on the problem, of course, but generally, it shouldn't last too terribly long. Most patients will see some noticeable progress after 3 or 4 sessions."

Other therapists say it's likely to take longer than that. Sex therapis, Ed.D., a director of the Association for Male Sexual Dysfunction in New York City and former president ofthe American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, says in her experience it generally takes a couple of months to a year to make significant progress. But compared with psychoanaly, which may take one to three years or sometimes longer, even that is brief.

One other thing it's important to know: Sex therapy doesn't involve any actual sexual activity (at least not in the office). Generally, it usually involves an in-Dffice talking session with a therapist every week or so, plus homework assignments. In some cases, the homework involves purely mental exercises, such as clarifYing ideals and goals or reading a book. It rnayinvolve learning sexual techniques at home, such as sensate focus exercises- to help couples relearn how to enjoy leisurely, un pressured sex-or the stop/start technique-to deal with premature ejaculatioI).. But all this is done in privacy, at home, so you don't have to worry about doing anything embarrassing in front of the therapist.