| Anywhere from 20 to 52% of women suffer from low sexual desire at some point in their lives (Laumann, Michael & Kolata, 1995; Laumann et al., 1999; Shifren, Monz, Russo, Segreti, & Johannes, 2008; West et al., 2008), and it is associated with decreases in physical and emotional satisfaction (Laumann, Paik, & Rosen, 1999). Low sexual desire is one of the most complex sexual concerns to treat, and currently, no standard treatment exists. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of bibliotherapy for women experiencing low sexual desire who are married, heterosexual, and generally happy with their relationships. The current study compared participants' scores on measures of sexual desire, sexual arousal, and other components of sexual functioning (e.g. lubrication, satisfaction), including overall sexual functioning, across three different groups: 1) a bibliotherapy condition in which participants read A Tired Woman's Guide to Passionate Sex (Mintz, 2009), 2) a second bibliotherapy condition in which participants read another popular press self-help book entitled Reclaiming Your Sexual Self: How You Can Bring Desire Back into Your Life (Hall, 2004), and 3) a wait-list control group. A total of 45 participants were included in the sample and completed measures six weeks apart. Results indicated that participants in a combined intervention group (e.g. those who received either one of the two bibliotherapy interventions) demonstrated statistically greater gains across time in sexual desire, satisfaction, lubrication, orgasm, and sexual functioning, as compared to the control group. Additionally, participants who read A Tired Woman's Guide to Passionate Sex demonstrated significantly greater gains in sexual desire, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and overall sexual functioning across time as compared to the control group and exhibited significantly greater gains in sexual desire, lubrication, and overall sexual functioning across time as compared to participants who read Reclaiming Your Sexual Self: How You Can Bring Desire Back into Your Life. Those who read Reclaiming Your Sexual Self: How You Can Bring Desire Back into Your Life made statistically greater gains over time in sexual desire, lubrication, and orgasm as compared to the control group. This was the second study to date exploring bibliotherapy for low sexual desire in women and established A Tired Woman's Guide to Passionate Sex as the first probably efficacious treatment for low sexual desire in women.;Keywords: Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, Low Sexual Desire, Treatment, Bibliotherapy, Women. |
