Evaluation and treatment of premature ejaculation: a critical review.

OBJECTIVE

Premature ejaculation is the most prevalent male sexual dysfunction. The present article is a comprehensive review of the literature on premature ejaculation.

METHOD: This critical discussion of the literature evaluates the definitional issues, theoretical conceptualizations, assessment strategies, and treatment alternatives for premature ejaculation.

RESULTS

The review integrates the most recent findings on the diagnosis and treatment of premature ejaculation updating an earlier review with the addition of more than fifty recent articles and adding sections on treatment generalization and maintenance, medical evaluation, pharmacological intervention, and a discussion of methodological issues in the literature.

CONCLUSIONS

The pause-squeeze technique remains the current treatment of choice for the disorder. However, this unitary treatment recommendation disguises a multidimensional disorder which has yet to evolve an operational definition, psychometrically sound assessment procedures, or clearly articulated etiology.