NCJ Number
227230
Journal
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: April-June 2009 Pages: 150-163
Date Published
April 2009
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This preliminary study examined the experiences of sexual dysfunction and sexual assault in 71 women who received treatment for alcohol/other drug (AOD) addiction.
Abstract
The findings suggest the importance of adding assessment and treatment of sexual dysfunction for women with a history of sexual assault who seek treatment for AOD use disorder, particularly if they report using substances to increase their sexual desire. In cases that involve expectancies for AOD use to include a reduction of sexual inhibition, the expectancy itself can be a target of treatment. Since women who had not experienced sexual assault also had some elevated scores on the measure of sexual dysfunction, this type of assessment and treatment may also be indicated in women seeking substance abuse treatment who do not have a sexual assault history. Sexually assaulted women had higher total sexual dysfunction scores than women with no history of sexual assault. In addition, sexually assaulted women on average scored above the clinical cutoff for sexual dysfunction, and non-sexually assaulted women did not. Still, the sample as a whole had a fairly high degree of sexual dysfunction at the subscale level, with both groups scoring above the clinical cutoff for a number of subscales. Women not reporting a history of sexual assault had a mean above the cutoff for four subscales: Infrequency, Noncommunication, Dissatisfaction, and Vaginismus. A multidimensional battery of tests was administered at baseline and at 6-month and 12-month followup intervals. Only the baseline data were used in the current preliminary study. Instruments used were the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, the Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction-Female, and Emotion Regulation Reasons for Use Scale. 2 tables and 49 references