Enhancing sexual desire and intimacy via the metaphor of a problem child: utilizing structural-strategic family therapy.

This article explores structural-strategic family therapy as a treatment modality for couples with problems of intimacy and sexual desire. Parents whose presenting problem involves a child with problematic behavior may also struggle with problems in their intimate relationship. Instead of speaking to these problems directly, however, the couple may communicate about their intimate problems via the metaphor of their "problem" child. Structural-strategic family therapy can then be utilized to strengthen the parental subsystem by establishing a parenting team, which in turn nourishes the partner subsystem. Success is then measured not only by improvements in the child's behavior, but also by the enhancement of intimacy and sexual desire between partners.