RECOVERY FROM SEXUAL DEVIATIONS THROUGH OVERCOMING NON-SEXUAL NEUROTIC RESPONSES

Abstract

1. Three cases of sexual deviation are reported in which a return to normal heterosexual behavior followed the development of assertive behavior on the part of the patients. Follow-up inquiries 3 to 6 years later showed that the patients had maintained their improvements. 2. In these patients the sexual deviations were determined by anxiety that did not have a sexual origin. The processes of their therapy are discussed, and also, more briefly, the therapy of those cases in which anxiety is specifically attached to sexual stimuli. 3. The recoveries in these patients were not related to recall of repressed memories of traumatic events or the working out of specific sexual conflicts. The alteration of sexual behavior did not lead to the occurrence of other symptoms or other undesirable side effects. 4. The processes whereby stimuli of anxiety lose their capacity to arouse anxiety are discussed and it is suggested that the concept of "repressed emotion" has hindered an understanding of the processes of recovery from psychoneuroses with and without psychotherapy.