Taking advantage of International Sexual Health Day on September 4, ASASAM wanted to highlight the importance of caring for the sexuality of all people. To this end, he has published a guide for pioneering professionals in the Spanish State who work on the sexuality of people with mental health problems.

"Understanding sexuality as each subject feels, lives and expresses itself, sexuality is a biographic fact that lasts a lifetime and that all human beings have. Having a diagnosis of mental illness doesn't mean you can't enjoy sexuality," said ASASAM president María Ángeles Arbaiziagoitia.

The association has been working on the topic of sexuality with people with mental illness and their families for 5 years. They have worked on the subject holistically in different lines of work, and for this they have had the help of experts. The experience gained during all these years has been the basis of the guide presented on 3 September.

Through this initiative, ASASAM aims to improve the care of sexuality received by people with mental health problems. To do so, it has proposed a roadmap for organizations to make their situational diagnosis, as well as different actions of visibility, awareness, training and empowerment.

Overcoming prejudices

The association has come a long way when it comes to the issue of sexuality. The first time they put the issue on the table, they met with the prejudices of many families. The practice, however, has shown that attention to sexuality has very positive effects on people diagnosed with mental health problems.

"Sexuality has also been a human aspect hidden in Western morality, so we have to deal with the double taboo when we talk about sexuality", explained Arbaizagoitia, "these people are assigned certain characteristics, evidently mistaken, which further damages their sexual experience". Here are some of the erroneous generalized statements that the association has listed when talking about sexuality and mental illness:

-They are not erotically desirable subjects.

-They cannot maintain stable and balanced relationships or form families.

-The heteroerotic desire is presupposed, so denying their sexuality also denies them sexual diversity.

They don't need sex education, they don't need to care for or cultivate their sexuality. In addition, sexual care programs can destabilize their psychopathological situation.

ASASAM intends to disseminate the work done throughout the Spanish State. In fact, this is a subject that has been little studied so far and one of the first professional guides published is that of the Aiaraldea Association.