Andrew Allen , Nadine McKillop , Mary Katsikitis , Prudence Millear
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引用次数: 2
Abstract
Background and objectives
Sexual fantasies represent a common aspect of human sexuality that can support sexual well-being but also contribute to psychopathology. The latter warrants intervention and bilateral stimulation with eye movements (EMs) may be a suitable intervention for impairing mental imagery of sexual fantasies. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of multiple rounds of EMs on sexual fantasies, gauge the effect over time with a one-week follow-up, and assess how impaired sexual imagery may influence behaviour and behavioural intention.
Methods
Twenty-eight participants (14 male, Mage = 44.10, SDage = 9.77) selected a favoured sexual fantasy and engaged in five repeated rounds of an EM task, either face-to-face or via telehealth. Baseline phenomenological characteristics of sexual fantasies were compared against repeated measures after each round of EMs and at one-week follow-up, as well as hypothetical behavioural intention and frequency of fantasy masturbation.
Results
All sexual fantasy characteristics (e.g., vividness, sensations, arousal, believability) diminished progressively between each round of EMs. These characteristics increased from round five to follow-up. However, they remained significantly reduced compared to baseline. Participants’ hypothetical behavioural intention and frequency of masturbation associated with their sexual fantasies also reduced post-EM task.
Limitations
Use of self-report measures; participants’ mental imagery could not be measured directly; and no comparison groups were included.
Conclusions
As an imagery impairing task, bilateral stimulation with EMs is effective for diminishing the phenomenological properties of sexual fantasies, extending upon extant literature. Collectively, the progressive research regarding EMs and sexual fantasies encourages replication in specific populations (e.g., individuals with problematic or harmful sexual fantasies).
期刊介绍：
The publication of the book Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition (1958) by the co-founding editor of this Journal, Joseph Wolpe, marked a major change in the understanding and treatment of mental disorders. The book used principles from empirical behavioral science to explain psychopathological phenomena and the resulting explanations were critically tested and used to derive effective treatments. The second half of the 20th century saw this rigorous scientific approach come to fruition. Experimental approaches to psychopathology, in particular those used to test conditioning theories and cognitive theories, have steadily expanded, and experimental analysis of processes characterising and maintaining mental disorders have become an established research area.
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