Low sexual desire in women: the effects of marital therapy

A total of 49 couples, in which the women were experiencing inhibited sexual desire (ISD), received Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT) or were assigned to a wait-list control group. An additional 15 couples were recruited as a non-ISD comparison sample. Only very modest treatment and control group differences were found after treatment. Females treated with marital therapy made significant gains on one measure of sexual desire and on level of depressive symptomatology. Overall, the marital treatment group seemed to make clinically significant gains from pre- to posttreatment which were largely maintained at follow-up. Lower levels of initial marital distress resulted in greater treatment gains, and better pretreatment marital adjustment predicted better posttreatment overall sexual adjustment. The main difference found between ISD and non-ISD couples was that ISD couples had significantly more sexual distress. Results are discussed in light of the unique features of this subject population, and suggestions are given for future research.