Psychiatric comorbidity in heterosexual couples with sexual dysfunction assessed with the composite international diagnostic interview.

Psychiatric comorbidity of sexual dysfunction (SD) in heterosexual couples was investigated with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 1.1 (CIDI; WHO, 1992). Demographic data, diagnoses of sexual dysfunction according to DSM-IV criteria, CIDI data, and scores on the Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS: Rust and Golombok, 1986) were collected for 382 men and women with SD who applied for participation in a study of bibliotherapy. The prevalence of psychiatric disorder in the study sample was compared with the general population as documented in the NEMESIS epidemiological study in the Netherlands (Bijl et al., 1998). GRISS scores corroborated the diagnoses of SD. An increased prevalence of current anxiety disorder was found in sexually dysfunctional men (11.6%; chi 2 (df = 1) = 7.753; p = .005). An increased rate of lifetime diagnoses of affective (21.5%; chi 2 (df = 1) = 9.728; p = .002) and a near significant increased rate of lifetime anxiety disorders (19.9%; chi 2 (df = 1) = 5.642; p = .018) was found in men with SD. In the sexually dysfunctional female participants, a higher prevalence of current anxiety disorder was found (20.4%; chi 2 (df = 1) = 10.057; p = .002). Lifetime affective disorders (38.3%; chi 2 (df = 1) = 20.719; p < .001) as well as lifetime anxiety disorders (37.3%; chi 2 (df = 1) = 16.254; p < 0.001) were more prevalent than in the general female population. Psychiatric comorbidity in men and women with SD was significantly higher than that found in the general population. The increased comorbidity of psychiatric disorders in men and women with SD warrants adding efficient psychiatric screening to the standard intake assessment procedure of patients with SD.

Characteristics of couples applying for bibliotherapy via different recruitment strategies: a multivariate comparison.

This study compared characteristics of couples with different sexual dysfunctions who were recruited for participation in a bibliotherapy program via two routes: in response to media advertisements and through their presence on a waiting list for therapist-administered treatment in an outpatient sexology clinic. Data were collected from 492 subjects (246 couples). Male sexology patients were younger than media-recruited males. However, type of sexual dysfunction accounted for a substantially larger proportion of variance in the demographic and psychometric data. An interaction effect of recruitment strategy and sexual dysfunction type was found with respect to female anorgasmia. We conclude from the absence of differences between the two study groups that the Wills and DePaulo (1991) model of help-seeking behavior for mental problems does not apply to couples with sexual dysfunctions joining a bibliotherapy program who either primarily requested professional treatment or who responded to media advertising.