Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Sexual Obsessions and Impulse Control in Men with Sexual Addiction
Keywords:
psychological interventions, sexual addiction , impulse control , sexual obsession , Cognitive-behavioral therapyAbstract
The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on reducing sexual obsessions and improving impulse control in men with sexual addiction. This semi-experimental study employed a pretest–posttest design with a control group. Thirty men diagnosed with sexual addiction were selected through psychological screening and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received several structured CBT sessions involving cognitive restructuring, exposure and response prevention, impulse-control skills training, emotion regulation strategies, and behavioral inhibition techniques, while the control group received no intervention. Data were collected using standardized measures of sexual obsession and impulsivity and analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Results revealed significant main effects of time and significant time×group interactions for both sexual obsession and impulse control (P<0.001). The experimental group showed a significant reduction in sexual obsession and impulsivity from pretest to posttest and follow-up, whereas no meaningful changes occurred in the control group. Bonferroni post-hoc comparisons confirmed significant differences between pretest and posttest, as well as pretest and follow-up, for both outcome variables. CBT produced substantial reductions in sexual obsessions and meaningful improvements in impulse control among men with sexual addiction, with effects remaining stable at follow-up. These findings indicate that CBT is an effective and structured psychological intervention for addressing cognitive and behavioral components of sexual addiction.
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Copyright (c) 1404 Zahra Mashhadi Ebrahim, Fatemeh Hooshmand, Hana Hashemi, Armaghan Atashani Kouchesfahani (Author); Arsalan Barekat (Corresponding author)
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