Clinical outcomes of a new cognitive-behaviour bibliotherapy for premature ejaculation

INTRODUCTION. Premature ejaculation (PE) is a common sexual disorder. However, only few affected people consult clinicians in order to overcome this problem. Although no definitive consensus about its aetiology emerges, some mechanisms of PE are now well known. This allows more precise and efficient treatments, both at pharmacological as well as cognitive-behavioural levels. Further, studies have shown that reading didactical documents about their PE problem might be useful to men. Such approach is called “bibliotherapy”.
AIM. The aim of the present study was to improve the bibliotherapy approach on the basis of up to date knowledge and techniques. The expected benefits were: (1) an efficient manual shorter than previous ones, (2) therapeutic principles easier to assimilate and (3) a method thereby made accessible to a large public which usually does not consult for this type of sexual problem.
METHOD. A short bibliotherapy named Practical Guide of PE [in French] was tested among 421 PE subjects (DSM-IV diagnosis criteria). Self-reported anxiety, sexual satisfaction, ejaculatory latency time, feeling of control and distress were measured: (1) at baseline, (2) at 4-8 months and (3) at 10-14 months after reading the Practical guide of PE. A control condition was composed by 67 subjects left on a waiting-list for two months after baseline.
RESULTS. Significant improvements were found for all the self-reported parameters, either at 4-8 and at 10-14 months after the bibliotherapy. The improvements were associated with an adjustment of sexual cognitions (SIQ, McCormick & Jordan). The response to treatment seemed better when the severity of PE was moderate, but did not seem related to variables such as age, educational level and personality traits (TCI-R, Cloninger; STAI Y-B, Spielberger.)
CONCLUSION: Its cost/benefit ratio makes the Practical Guide an ideal first line therapeutic tool. Its large diffusion might be useful in order to improve sexual health in populations