EMDR and exhibitionism: a randomized controlled trial on reducing deviant sexual arousal

Within the forensic mental health services, a demand exists for the development of focused interventions and/or guidelines for the treatment of specific criminogenic factors. For sex offenders, deviant sexual arousal is such a criminogenic factor. This study will examine whether the intervention Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is effective in reducing deviant sexual arousal in men who expose their genitals.



The following hypotheses are formulated:

1) it is expected that EMDR treatment of exhibitionists, according to the addiction protocol by Hornsveld and Markus (2014), will lead to a decrease of physiological arousal, activated by a deviant script, within four sessions.

2) It is expected that this decrease of physiological arousal will be larger in comparison with a control group, which receives four individual sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy, targeting deviant sexual arousal.

3) It is expected that the differences between the two groups will persist at a follow-up measurement eight weeks later.

4) In the long run (1-5 years), it is expected that the group of exhibitionists who were treated with EMDR, will have encountered less police contacts due to indecent exposure, than the control group.

Measurements will be carried out before the first treatment session, after the last treatment session, and after a follow-up period of eight weeks.

One group receives four EMDR sessions. Another group receives four sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy. Both treatments are specifically directed towards the deviant sexual arousal. Both treatment conditions include a fifth concluding session.