The directive sex therapies in psychiatric outpatient settings

The treatment techniques and associated outcome studies of the directive sex therapies (DST) are briefly reviewed and data on the treatment of 12 couples are presented. The directive sex therapies have achieved rather impressive results but only with highly selected populations. Studies, such as the present, with a range of patients more typical of psychiatric outpatient settings have consistently achieved lower success rates. The important effect of patient selection on outcome with DST has, to date, received little attention. The present authors discuss selection criteria for DST in the light of the literature and the outcome in their own cases.