Editorial

In choosing the topic of sex and psychotherapy for this issue, our aim was to open 
up a very important and basic area of psychotherapeutic theory and practice. Our
 contributors have dealt with both the fundamental and theoretical aspects in their 
articles: Rob Weatherill, for example, on Seduction and Therapy; Geraldine
 Grindley on sex and groups; Anna Davis looks more at the transcendental
 approach while Yvonne Jacobson and Joni Crone deal with specific areas and 
questions. We cannot hope to cover all aspects of this major and far reaching 
topic, but we hope that this issue will provide a stimulating read and encourage
 people to re-visit this topic which is a basic, and often unacknowledged, element 
in every therapeutic encounter.

One of our most public functions is to be seen in the role of ‘counsellor’, sorting 
out people who are abused or abusers and bringing psychotherapy into the news.
 It sometimes seems as if society was pushing this on to the psychotherapy
 profession and we need to be clear about whether we accept such a role or whether 
we think that is what we should be doing. Effectively we may be coerced into the
 provision of therapy to cope with this, to ‘mop it up’ for those who can find no
 other way of dealing with it. In working with sexual issues on behalf of the client
 or society it can be a very difficult area, made much more complex because of 
these moral and social aspects.

As one of our contributors notes, secrecy and reluctance to deal with issues of
 sexuality in therapy suggests that it may be a relatively unintegrated aspect of the
 self. This makes it all the more important that psychotherapists should not
 themselves be inhibited in this area.

Our remaining three issues will look at Anger, Gain and Loss, and the Future of 
Psychotherapy. We would strongly encourage our readers to think of contributing
 your thoughts on some of these topics so that Inside Out can fulfill its stated aim
 of being an open forum for debate and discussion.