Acceptance-Based Psychotherapy in the Treatment of an Adjudicated Exhibitionist: A Case Example

This paper describes the treatment of a court-referred exhibitionist using principles of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The patient's urges to expose, acts of exposure, and drug use were assessed during 12 months of treatment and at a 6-month follow-up. Results indicated that the patient's urges to expose and frequency of public masturbation at treatment termination and at the follow-up assessment were significantly reduced from baseline. Further, treatment facilitated social skills development and reduced drug use and symptoms of depression and anxiety. These results suggest that nonaversive treatment methods can be successfully applied to treat exhibitionists. The effectiveness of applying a similar treatment program for other paraphilias should be examined.