PSYCHOSEXUAL PROBLEMS IN THE CONTRACEPTIVE CONSULTATION – CHOICE OF VENUE AND DOCTOR (INTRODUCTION 2)
Sometimes any contact with a familiar doctor may be perceived as too threatening. A young girl may be unwilling to reveal her sexual needs to a doctor whom she regards as an extension of her parents, particularly her father, and therefore (she feels) bound to disapprove. The occasional publicity about parents being told about their daughter’s sexual activity by a doctor, or even the presence of a rumour about lack of confidentiality, will further discourage the timid or unsure. This part of the growing up process which has to be kept hidden from parental supervision and knowledge, the secret inner world, this search for the separate individual self which is the adult into which the adolescent is developing, prevents the not-yet-quite-adult from consulting those he or she views as being in the parental role. Doctors, teachers, school nurses, as well as parents, all recognize the difficulties of reaching past the defences of the often sullen and rebellious teenager or young adult. Particularly if there are difficulties – the unsuitable boyfriend, a fear of infection or abnormality, failure of erection, pain or dissatisfaction with intercourse – a stranger may need to be sought out. A clinic or doctor unknown previously, perhaps recommended by a friend as sympathetic, is consulted instead of the familiar family doctor.
*286/197/1*
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.