Mindfulness, emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and stress proneness among hypersexual patients

Abstract

Objective: The current study explores relationships between mindfulness, emotional regulation, impulsivity, and stress proneness in a sample of participants recruited in a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder Fifth Edition Field Trial for Hypersexual Disorder and healthy controls to assess whether mindfulness attenuates symptoms of hypersexuality. Method: Hierarchal regression analysis was used to assess whether significant relationships between mindfulness and hypersexuality exist beyond associations commonly found with emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and stress proneness in a sample of male hypersexual patients (n = 40) and control subjects (n = 30). Results: Our results show a robust inverse relationship of mindfulness to hypersexuality over and above associations with emotional regulation, impulsivity, and stress proneness. Conclusions: These results suggest that mindfulness may be a meaningful component of successful therapy among patients seeking help for hypersexual behavior in attenuating hypersexuality, improving affect regulation, stress coping, and increasing tolerance for desires to act on maladaptive sexual urges and impulses. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.