Experiential Avoidance as a Mediator of the Relationship between Dispositional Mindfulness and Compulsive Sexual Behaviors among Men in Residential Substance Use Treatment

Abstract

The present study sought to extend compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) and mindfulness research by testing whether dispositional mindfulness negatively related to CSB among men with substance use disorders (SUD) through experiential avoidance. Dispositional mindfulness is believed to decrease experiential avoidance, a correlate of CSB. We therefore hypothesized that dispositional mindfulness would relate to CSB indirectly through experiential avoidance. We reviewed medical records from 175 men in residential treatment for SUD. Results revealed significant indirect effects of dispositional mindfulness on CSB through experiential avoidance. Results provided preliminary support for developing mindfulness-based CSB interventions that target experiential avoidance.

The relationship among anxiety, depression, and problematic smartphone use in university students: the mediating effect of psychological inflexibility

“…Indeed, when examining studies on PI’s relationship with various behavioral addictions, PI is seen to be related to compulsive sexual behavior, 30 technological addiction, 31 and Internet addiction. 32 In addition, studies that have performed ACT interventions aimed at minimizing PI have reported ACT to be effective in substance-related and behavioral addictions.…”

The Associations Between Attachment Insecurity and Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder or Problematic Pornography Use: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties

“…The importance of ER difficulties in CSBD/PPU development and maintenance should be confirmed in future longitudinal studies; such evidence would imply that effective ER should be targeted in therapeutic interventions for CSBD (Gratz et al, 2015) and that individuals experiencing CSBD may benefit from therapeutic approaches focused on ER regulation, for example, from dialectical behavior therapy (see Harvey et al, 2019). Another, "third wave" cognitive behavioral therapy approach that may be beneficial for targeting emotion dysregulation in CSBD/PPU is Acceptance Commitment Therapy which emphasizes the role of experiential avoidance [attempts to avoid and escape one's internal experiences, among others, emotions (Hayes et al, 1996)] in the development and maintenance of psychiatric problems [among them CSBD (Borgogna & McDermott, 2018;Brem et al, 2017;Levin et al, 2019;Wetterneck et al, 2012)]. Generally, mindfulness-based approaches are associated with strategies aimed at handling emotions and those treatments have been found to be effective in decreasing ER difficulties (see Roemer et al, 2015).…”

The Role of Shame in the Sexual-Orientation Disparity in Mental Health: A Prospective Population-Based Study of Multimodal Emotional Reactions to Stigma

“…Second, whereas the present study focused on three mental-health outcomes known to be associated with shame-related tendencies to hide and erase oneself, future research might investigate additional outcomes. In fact, research has found associations between shame and other behavioral outcomes, including substance use problems (Dearing et al, 2005), compulsive sexual behavior (Brem et al, 2017(Brem et al, , 2018, and eating disorders (Blythin et al, 2020), all of which are more common among at least some subgroups of sexual minorities compared with heterosexuals (Bőthe et al, 2018;Feldman & Meyer, 2007;Green & Feinstein, 2012). Whether shame might explain sexual-orientation disparities in these outcomes remains to be determined.…”