Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T18:17:01.363Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Controlled Study to Evaluate Directed Masturbation in the Management of Primary Orgasmic Failure in Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Alan J. Riley
Affiliation:
Black Bull House, Dassells, Braughing, Hertfordshire
Elizabeth J. Riley
Affiliation:
Black Bull House, Dassells, Braughing, Hertfordshire

Summary

This paper presents the results of a prospective controlled study evaluating a programme of directed masturbation against a combined sensate focus and supportive psychotherapeutic approach in the management of female primary orgasmic failure. Of the 20 patients who followed the masturbation programme 90 per cent gained orgasmic capacity compared with 53 per cent of 15 patients who were treated conventionally. Eighty-five per cent of the patients treated by the masturbation programme and 47 per cent of the control group of patients became coitally orgasmic on at least 75 per cent of coital occasions. The difference is statistically significant at the 5 per cent level. The results suggest that directed masturbation is an effective adjunct in the management of primary female orgasmic failure.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bardwick, J. M. (1971) Psychology of Women: A Study of Bio-cultural Conflicts. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Chapman, J. D. (1968) Frigidity: rapid treatment by reciprocal inhibition. Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 67, 871–8.Google Scholar
Cooper, A. J. (1970) Frigidity, treatment and short term prognosis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 14, 133–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freud, S. (1905) Three essays on the theory of sexuality. In Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. (ed. Strachey, J.). London: Hogarth Press, 1953.Google Scholar
Hastings, D. (1963) Impotence and Frigidity. Boston: Little.Google Scholar
Kaplan, H. (1974) The New Sex Therapy: Active Treatment of Sexual Dysfunctions. London: Bailliere Tindall.Google Scholar
Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., Martin, C. E. & Gebhard, P. H. (1953) Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Kohlenberg, R. J. (1974) Directed masturbation and the treatment of primary orgasmic dysfunction. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 3, 349–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lazarus, A. A. (1963) The treatment of chronic frigidity by systematic desensitization. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 136, 272–8.Google Scholar
Lobitz, W. & Lo Piccolo, J. (1972) New methods in the behavioural treatment of sexual dysfunction. Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 3, 265–71.Google Scholar
Lo Piccolo, J. & Lobitz, W. (1972) The role of masturbation in the treatment of orgasmic dysfunction. Archives of Sexual Beahviour, 2, 163–71.Google Scholar
Masters, W. & Johnson, V. (1966) Human Sexual Response. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Masters, W. & Johnson, V. (1970) Human Sexual Inadequacy. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
McGovern, K. B., Stewart, R. C. & Lo Piccolo, J. (1975) Secondary orgasmic dysfunction. I. Analysis and strategies for treatment. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 4, 265–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGuire, R. J., Carlisle, J. W. & Young, B. G. (1965) Sexual deviation as a conditioned behaviour: A hypothesis. Behaviour, Research and Therapy, 3, 185–90.Google Scholar
O'Connor, J. F. & Stern, L. O. (1972) Results of treatment in functional sexual disorders. New York State Journal of Medicine, 72, 1927–34.Google Scholar
Williams, W. & Orsmond, A. (1977) Rapid inpatient treatment of severe dysfunction. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 11, 61–4.Google Scholar
Wincze, J. P. & Caird, W. K. (1976) The effects of systematic desensitization and video desensitization in the treatment of essential sexual dysfunction in women. Behaviour Therapy, 7, 335–42.Google Scholar
Zeiss, A. M., Rosen, G. M. & Zeds, R. A. (1977) Orgasm during intercourse: a treatment strategy for women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45, 891–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.