Western psychotherapeutic approaches have been introduced into China in the past two decades,but the problem of how to integrate these methods meaningfully with the Chinese culture remains.This article shows the author's view that psychotherapists should understand a client's presenting problem on three levels during interviewing with the client.Sexual desire is viewed as a core intra-conflict of the client,covered up by relevant life experiences (e.g.love affair) and mental symptoms (e.g.anxiety,depression).The therapeutic process conducted by a therapist consists of:1) to clarify symptom manifestations and make a diagnosis in accordance with the client's complaints; 2) to understand the client's life experiences and love affairs and to respond with empathy; and 3) to interpret the core intra-conflict and the relationships between the symptoms and the covert sexual desire.Three cases presented here illustrate the process of therapeutic interactions proposed.