This virtual book talk marked the release of Psychoanalytic Sex Therapy: Exploring the Unconscious Life of Sexuality. In conversation with ICP, author and psychologist Juliane discusses the emotional meanings embedded in sexual symptoms, the unconscious layers of desire and inhibition, and how clinicians can integrate psychoanalytic thinking with contemporary sex therapy frameworks. We will explore themes of shame, attachment, trauma, and the relational dynamics that shape sexual experience.

An intimate conversation with Juliane Maxwald about desire, shame, attachment, and the unconscious dimensions of sexual life.

Join us to celebrate the publication of Juliane Maxwald’s Psychoanalytic Sex Therapy: Exploring the Unconscious Life of Sexuality.

Framed as an intimate dialogue with the author, this one-hour book talk will explore how sexual symptoms—low desire, intimacy struggles, compulsive behavior, or disruptions in arousal—often reflect deeper layers of attachment, trauma, and unconscious conflict. Juliane will discuss how psychoanalysis and modern sex therapy can be integrated in practice, how shame silently shapes erotic life, and how clinicians can work at the intersection of mind, body, and relational experience.

Drawing from powerful clinical narratives and contemporary theory, Juliane will invite participants into a nuanced conversation about the emotional meanings behind sexual challenges.

As Ian Kerner writes, “Juliane Maxwald…puts sex therapy back on the couch and shows us that everything old is new again.”

In this presentation, Juliane Maxwald, LP, will discuss her book Psychoanalytic Sex Therapy: Exploring the Unconscious Life of Sexuality (Routledge, 2025) and the integrative journey that shaped it. Tracing her path from training at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies through her work in couples therapy, sex therapy, and trauma, Juliane reflects on how modern analysis laid the groundwork for understanding unconscious communication through the body.

She explores how core psychoanalytic ideas—preverbal communication, countertransference, aggression, and managing levels of stimulation—intersect with contemporary trauma theory and embodied sex therapy. The talk weaves together theory and lived experience, illustrating how returning to the foundations of modern analysis with new eyes can deepen our understanding of desire, regulation, and relational life.