THE EXPERIENCE CYCLE AND THE SEXUAL RESPONSE CYCLE: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND APPLICATION TO SEXUAL DYSFUNCTIONS

Abstract

The sexual response cycle as a heuristic for understanding sexual responding has emerged from sexuality literature. Another cyclic heuristic, the experience cycle, has been developed in Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) literature to conceptualize how persons anticipate, encounter, and then evaluate experiences in terms of validation/invalidation and potential need for construct system change. The present article maps these two cycles onto each other to offer a PCP framework for understanding sexual responding, sexual dysfunctions, and therapy targeting sexual function.