Sexuality and Serious Mental Illness

Reflecting current understanding of the complexities of sexual activity among persons with chronic mental illness, the text draws upon the collective wisdom and experience of experts from a variety of settings. Clinicians, advocates, consumers, researchers, legal experts, and administrators all contribute to document the concerns about sexual behavior and the consequent health risks for this at-risk population. The research presented here is particularly timely in view of recent emphases on patient choice, recovery, and advocacy, and can be used to provide guidance to clinicians, mental health administrators, policymakers, advocates, and researchers.

1. Sexual Behavior in Persons with Serious Mental Illness: Patterns and Clinical Correlates 2. Human Sexuality and Mental Illness: Consumer Viewpoints and Recovery Principles 3. Sex and Mental Illness: Legal Considerations 4. Dilemmas of Managing Sexual Activity Among Psychiatric Patients 5. Developing and Implementing a Policy for Consensual Sex Between Inpatients 6. Teaching Individuals with Serious Mental Illness about Friendship, Dating and Sexuality 7. HIV and Serious Mental Illness 8. Sexual Trauma in Women with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness 9. Psychotropic Medications and Sexual Dysfunction 10. Pharmacologic Management of Abnormal Sexual Behavior 11. Sexuality, Stigma Busting and Mental Illness

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA and Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare System