The efficacy of mindfulness in sex therapy on sexual sensation seeking, extramarital relationships and marital disillusionment of couples

Various studies have shown the effectiveness of mindfulness in sex therapy on sexual disorders (especially in women), but the question is whether “this intervention is also effective on marital problems (sexual and relationship)”.

The present research was conducted with the aim of examining the effectiveness of mindfulness in sex therapy on sexual sensation seeking, extramarital relationships, and marital disillusionment of couples.

The research method was quasi-experimental and was a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population of this study included all couples with extramarital relationships in Tabriz city who referred to counseling and psychological services in 2020. The research sample consisted of 20 couples recruited using inclusion and exclusion criteria and randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group equally (10 couples each). Participants completed the Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale (Kalichman, & Rompa, 1995), the Attitudes toward Infidelity Scale (Whatley, 2012), and the Marital Disaffection Questionnaire (Kayser, 1993) before and after the treatment intervention. The mindfulness in sex therapy and intimate relationships clinical protocol (Kocsis, & Newbury-Helps, 2016) was performed online in 8 sessions (120-min) over 2 months for the experimental group. Data were analyzed by mixed ANOVA using SPSS-25 software.

The results showed that mindfulness in sex therapy can significantly reduce sexual sensation seeking, extramarital relationships, and marital disillusionment in couples and this result was stable in the follow-up phase (p <0.01).

According to the results, the use of mindfulness in sex therapy is recommended to reduce sexual sensation seeking, extramarital relationships, and marital disillusionment in couples with extramarital relationships.