Psychological treatment strategies for rapid ejaculation: rationale, practical aspects, and outcome

The landscape has dramatically changed for patients seeking treatment for rapid ejaculation. Previously, psychotherapy or behavioral treatment was considered to be the treatment of choice for this troubling sexual dysfunction. Since the early 1990s, an efficacious alternative treatment has emerged—the off-label administration of SSRI medications. Currently, several short-acting SSRI compounds are in phase III clinical trials and are likely to receive approval as the first medical treatment for rapid ejaculation. Given the presumed efficacy of these new compounds and the off-label use of the current SSRIs, one might conclude that psychotherapy\behavior therapy for rapid ejaculation is an obsolete and antiquated intervention. On the contrary, psychotherapy is now more relevant than ever. The two aims of this paper are to review psychological/behavioral therapies for rapid ejaculation and to discuss the important role of combined psychological and medical treatment. In the new age of SSRI treatment for rapid ejaculation, some form of psychological/behavioral intervention is essential to help patients/couples make better use of medical therapies, to learn skills to delay ejaculation once off medication, to bolster sexual confidence, and to enhance patient and partner sexual satisfaction.