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Treatment of Sexual Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms During Exposure and Response Prevention

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Clinical Handbook of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the treatment of a Kyle, a young adult with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and focuses on the design and implementation of cognitive behavioral therapy with exposure and response prevention to treat Kyle’s sexual obsessions and compulsions. This case report begins by reviewing background literature on sexual obsessive-compulsive symptoms, as well as factors that are relevant to conducting exposures to treat these symptoms. A discussion of relevant background information about Kyle, our case conceptualization, and a session-by-session account of exposures that were conducted to target Kyle’s obsessive-compulsive symptoms (with an emphasis on the treatment of Kyle’s sexual symptoms) is presented. Several barriers that had to be addressed during these exposure sessions are reviewed, such as therapists’ non-avoidance of sexually explicit content due to their own anxiety or disgust sensitivity, and the chapter concludes with clinical recommendations for therapists who conduct exposures to treat sexual obsessive-compulsive symptoms in adults.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, 1600S Archer Rd, P.O. Box 100234, 32611, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Adam M. Reid MS, Cindy Flores PhD, Brian Olsen PhD, Megan A. Barthle MS, Andrew C. Rakhshani BS, Mathew Nguyen MD, Gary R. Geffken PhD & Joseph P. H. McNamara PhD

  2. Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, 1600S Archer Rd, P.O. Box 100165, 32611, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Adam M. Reid MS & Gary R. Geffken PhD

  3. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, 1600S Archer Rd, P.O. Box 100234, 32611, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Mariam Rahmani MD & Mathew Nguyen MD

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  1. Adam M. Reid MS
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Correspondence to Adam M. Reid MS .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Health Policy & Management, Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, and Psychology, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

    Eric A. Storch

  2. Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Adam B. Lewin

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Reid, A. et al. (2016). Treatment of Sexual Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms During Exposure and Response Prevention. In: Storch, E., Lewin, A. (eds) Clinical Handbook of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17139-5_3

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