Cognitive deconstruction in sexually compulsive priests

The focus of this study is self-destructive compulsive sexual behavior in Roman Catholic clergy and male religious. It is hypothesized that Baumeister's theory of cognitive deconstruction, the process by which people attempt to escape painful self awareness, may offer an explanatory framework for understanding the cognitive processes of long-term sexually compulsive males who report a history of compulsive sexual behavior beginning in adolescence. Baumeister outlines four consequences of cognitive deconstruction: disinhibition, passivity, absence of emotion, irrational thinking. The Rorschach protocols of 112 Roman Catholic clergy who were referred for psychiatric evaluation were examined for evidence of the consequences of cognitive deconstruction. The protocols of 39 priests diagnosed with compulsive sexuality were compared to the protocols of 37 priests diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and 36 priests who did not receive a psychiatric diagnosis at the time of evaluation. It was hypothesized that the compulsive sexuality group would have significantly more extreme scores on the 13 variables chosen to reflect cognitive deconstruction. The results did not support the hypothesis. The compulsive sex group was not significantly different from both the anxiety group and the control group on any of the selected Rorschach variables.