NCJ Number
140354
Journal
Psychiatric Annals Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1992) Pages: 333-338
Date Published
1992
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The study of sexual assault victims has resulted in a new understanding of paraphilia and sexual compulsivity; the sexual compulsive views sex as the sole vehicle for coping with life stresses and attaining intimacy.
Abstract
Factors that originally cause sexual compulsion are not necessarily factors that maintain and perpetuate it. Addictive cycles must be understood and stopped in order to establish effective control. Individuals raised in homes characterized by emotional and physical abuse and neglect develop distorted thinking based on belief systems assimilated through experience. To reconcile childhood conflicts and belief systems, individuals sometimes devise distorted survival strategies. Governed by irrational beliefs, negative self-evaluation, unrealistic perfectionist expectations, and an inability to code and interpret environmental feedback properly, sexually compulsive individuals think sex is the only way to deal with stress and establish intimacy. The proposed therapy for sexual compulsives involves a multimodal approach. By integrating the conceptual framework of post-traumatic stress disorder with that of cognitive-behavioral, systemic, and addictive behavior treatment strategies, individuals can be helped to form nondestructive, close interpersonal bonds. Improvement in component social skills can be encouraged by teaching new behavioral skills, reducing anxiety in heterosexual socialization, restructuring belief systems, and encouraging the use of environmental feedback in a way that improves self-esteem. Sexual arousal reconditioning is discussed, and a relapse prevention model is outlined. 10 references and 2 tables