Today@Dal

From the April 28 edition of the Chronicle Herald:

At least 16 per cent of women experience pain during sex, according to Dr. Natalie Rosen, a professor in the psychology and neuroscience department at Dalhousie University.

“There are so many women out there walking around suffering in silence and feeling guilty,” Rosen said on Thursday. “They don’t know that there is treatment out there.”

Rosen said her research focuses on a condition called vulvodynia, in which women experience chronic pain during sex. She said there is no single cause for the condition, but that a multitude of psychological, emotional and social factors contribute to the pain.

Recently, Rosen was awarded $125,000 by the Canadian Foundation of Innovation to fund her research and offer treatment options at the Couples and Sexual Health Laboratory at Dalhousie.

Women who experience pain during sex see an average of five doctors before receiving an accurate diagnosis, she said. Rosen said her first-of-its-kind research will be aimed at treating the condition as it affects a woman and her partner.

Read the rest of this article online.