Editorial Comment from Jane Meijlink to Gynecological associated disorders and management

This practical approach from a world expert will help guide the clinician through the complexities of diagnosing and treating chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in all its forms. In recent years, we have often seen all individual types of CPP bundled under one name: chronic pelvic pain. This may have misled many clinicians into thinking they were dealing with a single condition. As we can see from Dr Whitmore's article, this is not the case. CPP is simply an umbrella term embracing many quite different disorders which may occur individually or together. Dyspareunia has long been neglected in women and still tends to be a taboo issue. Since patients themselves may be too embarrassed to raise the topic with their doctor, clinicians (and primary care) should be trained to treat sexual intimacy as a perfectly normal aspect of health, thereby creating an environment in which the patient feels confident and less embarrassed to discuss the problem. In today's multicultural society, more female clinicians are needed in this field to overcome any reluctance by women and girls to discuss sexual health and intimacy issues with male clinicians. None declared.