Sexual counselling with Catholics: how to cope with sexual issues with Catholic clients?

Sexual health is an integral part of the multifaceted human experience that is driven both by biological factors and psychological facets. Sociocultural aspects including religious beliefs can influence sexual mores and how one perceives oneself as a sexual being. The authors present some of the key tenets of Catholicism that are relevant for the sexual health professional, concentrating on the most important issues focused in the literature as interesting for the influence that religious beliefs have on sexual health. Counselling about chastity, contraception usage and HIV/STIs risk, homosexuality and homophobia, and sexual therapy will be discussed in their correlation with the Catholic doctrine. The literature analysis shows that when working with clients facing tensions and conflicts between sexual and religious identity development, counselors should view their work as aiding them in finding points of connection between religious and sexual identities. Professionals should use all available resources to learn about the beliefs and religious practices of their patients. An attempt to understand the personal belief system is critical for overall success in the sexual health treatment paradigm. Clinicians need to be sensitive to the members' attachment to Catholicism or other religions and potential need community for social support and spiritual guidance.