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The main objective of this study is the measurement of approach bias in sex offenders and sex addicts, alongside determining whether the approach bias for sexual stimuli differs between these groups. A further objective is to test an intervention designed to train away the approach bias in sex addicts (‘avoidance training’), among both those receiving forensic health care and addiction treatment. Secondary objectives are testing whether the training reduces sexual preoccupation and sexual behaviors and testing whether these reductions are related to a reduction in approach bias

Hypothesis 1: We expect to find an approach bias in forensic sexual offenders and in sexual addicts.

Hypothesis 2: The proposed intervention will cause a decline in approach bias in forenisc sexual offenders and sexual addicts, compared to the placebo intervention.

Tijdbeslag
per bezoek 45 of 20 minuten

totaal 9 sessies

totale duur van de studie voor de individuele proefpersoon 4 uur

Avoidance training. The intervention is a computerized training, the so-called ‘avoidance training’. In the training, approach bias for sexual stimulus is trained away. The training consists of six sessions spread over a period of three weeks. During each session the participants complete a training of approximately 20 minutes. The training is a computer task in which the participants see sexual images and control images (nature photographs; landscapes, seas, flowers, etc.). The images are tilted either 5 degrees to the left or to the right. The one half of the participants (from the intervention condition and from the control condition) receives the instructions to push images that are tilting to the left away from themselves by pressing a button on the keyboard (by doing so the image gets smaller, creating the illusion that it is moving away from the participant), and to pull images that are tilted to the right towards themselves (the image gets larger in this case). For the other half of the participants the instructions are reversed. The images that the participants in the intervention condition push away from themselves are the sexual images while the images they pull towards themselves are the nature images. In the control condition, half of the sexual images and the half of the nature images are to be pulled towards the participant, the other half are to be pushed away.

It is expected that the consistent pushing away of the sexual stimuli will lead to a reduction in approach bias and thus faster avoidance of the images. In the control group no changes is expected in the approach bias.