EABCT 2026

What if sexual arousal worked like any other emotion, with a process we can understand and levers we can act on?

Join us on Saturday at the 56th EABCT Congress for the symposium Understanding and Intervening in the Process of Sexual Arousal, convened by Philippe Kempeneers (University of Liège, Belgium).

🔹 Patricia Pascoal will speak on how cognitive distraction inhibits arousal and shapes the way we appraise sex.

🔹 Marieke Dewitte will introduce sexual synchrony, how partners co-regulate arousal within and across sexual interactions.

🔹 Axel Bourcier will propose a way to name precisely the bodily actions engaged in sex therapy.

📅 Saturday 19 September · 9:30–11:00

📍 SQUARE Brussels

#EABCT2026 #CBT #SexTherapy #Sexology #SexualArousal #EmotionRegulation #AIUS #AEMTC#AFTCC#SSUB

EABCT teasing

SUMMARY

Research accumulated over recent years has made it possible to conceptualize sexual arousal as a dynamic process that, like any emotional process, develops or diminishes through the interaction of multiple physiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses. From a theoretical perspective, adopting a process-oriented approach to sexual experience offers potential solutions to some of the conceptual dead ends inherent in classical models that strongly emphasize distinctions between desire and arousal, and between physiological and subjective components. From a clinical perspective, identifying the discrete mechanisms involved in the arousal process opens up new avenues in terms of therapeutic targets and modes of intervention.
Patricia Pascoal will review cognitive distraction as an inhibitory agent of the sexual response and will discuss findings that reveal the key role played by attentional processes in shaping individuals’ arousal experiences and in their overall evaluation of sexual activity. Axel Bourcier will examine how body-based interventions—such as the regulation of breathing, muscle tone, and pelvic movements—can, or could, directly modulate sexual arousal through bottom-up processes, thereby complementing established CBT techniques such as psychoeducation, non-demand touching, sensate focus, masturbation exercises, and communication enhancement. Marieke Dewitte will focus on the dyadic aspects of the arousal process and will introduce the concept of sexual synchrony, defined as the extent to which partners succeed or fail in co-regulating their arousal within and across sexual interactions.