Although sexual dysfunction problems usually involve the psyche, few psychiatrists focus their practice on such problems, reported Ronald Stevenson, M.D., a Vancouver, British Columbia, psychiatrist and sexual medicine authority, in a recent interview (see Psychiatrist's Specialty Finds Him on Rarely Trodden Path).

"Perhaps this is mainly because psychiatrists have little training in the area," he ventured. "Also, pharmacologically oriented psychiatrists might think that there are too many psychodynamic issues involved, whereas psychotherapeutically oriented psychiatrists probably think that there are too many medical issues involved."

Nonetheless, Stevenson believes that psychiatrists could be the ideal physicians for helping people with sexual dysfunction problems, and he would like to see more of them get involved in this area. So too would two other psychiatrists who specialize in this domain—Richard Balon, M.D., of Rochester, Minn., and Robert Taylor Segraves, M.D., Ph.D., of Cleveland." They have been advocating for a long time to raise the profile of sexual medicine in psychiatry," Stevenson said.

In fact, thanks to the efforts of these three psychiatrists, as well as other sexual medicine experts, the Clinical Manual of Sexual Disorders should soon become available to psychiatrists. Balon and Segraves are its editors; Stevenson and other sexual-medicine authorities wrote chapters for it. It will be published by American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. (AAPI).

"We hope to publish the book in 2009," John McDuffie, editorial director of APPI, told Psychiatric News. "This is our first clinical manual on this topic."