Making Love Again: Hope for Couples Facing Loss of Sexual Intimacy
Intended for lay readers, these complementary books discuss the  theory and practice of treating sexual dysfunction. Hakim is a  surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, FL, with a practice  devoted to treating women's and men's sexual problems. The  Couple's Disease covers a wide variety of syndromes with  detailed but digestible descriptions and a heartening array of  curative approaches pharmaceutical, surgical, and psychosocial.  Hakim accurately notes that while psychosocial causes for sexual  problems were considered "the rule" in the past, recent findings  identify many more pharmaco-medical factors. Caveats to  treatments are offered appropriately, current research is  described, and the illustrations are very clear. The appendix on  sexually transmitted diseases is welcome, and the fictionalized  "Dr. Hakim's Waiting Room" sections provide interesting and  sometimes amusing glimpses of patients' concerns, despite  appearing a bit self-promotional. An index and a more complete  bibliography to studies mentioned in the text would have  rendered this book even more valuable. Married for 30-some years, the Lakens confronted and survived  male erectile dysfunction as a side effect of prostate surgery.  Their first-person account is readable, informative, and  persuasive. While Keith had the dysfunction, both he and  Virginia underwent mutual and individual healing to reinstate  sexual intimacy disrupted by the surgery. The passages that  explore their emotional conflicts allow readers to empathize and  to validate their own hesitations about seeking treatment  without minimizing the difficulties. Paradoxically, a glossary,  extended bibliography and resources list, and index make this  book more professionally complete than Hakim's. Both books are  solidly recommended for all public libraries. Martha Cornog,  PhiladelphiaCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.