Group versus individual treatment of primary and secondary female orgasmic dysfunction

Abstract

The effectiveness of group vs individual applications of behavioural procedures were assessed for primary and secondary female orgasmic dysfunction. Twenty-five primary cases and twenty-five secondary cases were randomly assigned to either a Group procedure, an Individual procedure or a Waiting-list Control (WLC). Both Group and Individual procedures were superior to no treatment in terms of attainment of orgasm by primary Ss and generalization of orgasm to intercourse by secondary Ss, with the Individual approach producing slightly superior results to the Group condition. Contrary to previous findings however, the results were relatively poor for primary Ss, whereas secondary Ss responded well to the programme. There was no evidence of a more disturbed partner relationship, as rated by the woman, for secondary Ss as compared to primary orgasmic dysfunction clients. No changes over time were found for any experimental conditions on measures of heterosexual anxiety, sexual activities or attitude towards masturbation. Improvements in sexual arousal and ratings of satisfaction with the sexual relationship were found across all experimental conditions, including the WLC.