American Journal of Men’s Health, Volume 18, Issue 6, November-December 2024.
This study aimed to investigate the effects of psychotherapeutic interventions, specifically cognitive-behavioral sexual therapy, using the example of erectile dysfunction in a cohort of 58 Ukrainian men under the age of 40 years. To achieve this goal, questionnaire methods were employed, including questions from the International Index of Erectile Function and the Perceived Stress Scale, along with statistical data processing and subsequent discussion. Psychotherapeutic intervention demonstrated its effectiveness from the short-term perspective and over a period of 6 months, with a significant improvement in erectile function indicators and a reduction in distress scores in the group of patients undergoing combined therapy (p < .05). Monotherapy with phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, as first-line drug choices, also proved effective. However, considering that erectile dysfunction had an established psychogenic nature, the symptoms of the condition returned to the baseline level after 6 months. Providing psychosexual education and studying adaptive sexual responses with the disruption of maladaptive cognitive patterns should be a key goal in the treatment of psychogenic sexual dysfunctions. It is important to note that men may encounter difficulties in the practical application of various cognitive-behavioral sexual therapy techniques. Nevertheless, psychotherapy is considered a promising approach to treatment, especially in the context of countries where the topic of sexual education remains taboo, and the number of men seeking professional psychological help is very low, as is the case in Ukraine.