Virtual Environments in the Treatment of Impotence and Premature Ejaculation

Abstract

Virtual environments have recently attracted much attention in clinical medicine. Given the new opportunities offered by this technology, some on-going research projects are now testing the possibility of using virtual reality (VR) for behavioral therapy, especially in the treatment of phobias. This paper describes a psychodynamic psychotherapy, integrating VR, used for the treatment of erection dysfunctions and premature ejaculation. The rationale of this approach is presented together with the results obtained on two different clinical samples: patients who had been impotent for at least 6 months (N = 50), and patients affected by primary premature ejaculation (n = 16).