Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Problematic Chemsex: a Pilot Study
Phase: NA
Conditions: Hypersexuality, Compulsive Sexual Behavior, Sexualized Drug Use (Chemsex)
Sponsor: Universidad Europea de Madrid

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Problematic Chemsex: a 
Pilot Study: a Pilot Study 
ID: 2023-324 
Document date: April 4, 2024 
IP: Francisco Montesinos, Ph.D. 
Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan  
 
 
 

Study Protocol:  
• Objective: To study the effect of an intervention based on 
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), applied in patients 
with problematic sexualized use of drugs with high levels of 
hypersexuality. 
• Design: open label pilot study 
• Methods:  
After being informed about the study, all patients giving written 
informed consent will be assessed to determine eligibility for study 
entry. Patients who meet eligibility requirements will be assessed 
through a structured interview and standardized questionnaires and 
assigned to the intervention group.  
Participants will immediately receive psychological intervention 
consisting in an 8-session group on line ACT-based treatment. The 
participants will be assessed through self-report instruments before 
and after treatment and at 3 months follow-up. 
• Intervention protocol 
Session 1: Introducing therapy, establishing the therapeutic alliance, 
reframing the problem. Introducing values clarification. Therapeutic 
methods. Therapeutic methods: metaphor of the two climbers, 
functional analysis. 
Session 2: Values clarification, commitment to action. Therapeutic 
methods: garden metaphor, funeral exercise. 
Session 3: Discriminating control as a problem, introducing 
acceptance, commitment to action. Therapeutic methods: metaphor 
of contemplating the waves from the beach, introduction to defusion 
training. 
Session 4: Awareness of body sensations, exposure to  anxiety, 
depressive mood and other emotional barriers. Therapeutic methods: 
Defusion training (body scan, emotional monitoring, valuable actions 
in presence of emotion/physical sensations). 
Session 5. Learning to observe thoughts as thoughts. Acceptance. 
Therapeutic methods: leaves on a stream exercise, mindfulness. 

Session 6. Acceptance as choice. Therapeutic methods: defusion 
training, invitation to choose acting in the presence of emotions, 
thoughts or physical sensations. 
Session 7. Establishing the perspective of the "self as a context". 
Therapeutic methods: exercise of the three circles of the self, 
chessboard metaphor. 
Session 8. Relapse prevention. Therapeutic methods: metaphor of 
falling off the bike, mindfulness. 
 
Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP):  
The results will be analysed through non-parametric techniques 
(comparisons of pre, post and follow-up group means). An analysis of 
variance will be performed to determine the specific weight of each 
independent variable, as well as the possible interaction between them. The 
statistical approach of Jacobson and Truax (1991) will be used to estimate 
the clinical significance of the effect.