Sexual dysfunctions are serious mental health issues that impact an estimated one in three Americans. Due to the complex, relational nature of most sexual dysfunctions, mental health professionals trained to work with couples and their relationship interactions are likely to have better outcomes when treating clients with sexual dysfunction. Data from CIGNA Health Solutions was analyzed to explore differences in therapy outcome for various types of mental health professions when treating clients with sexual dysfunctions. The current research is a retrospective analysis of administrative data that explores whether or not type of profession (i.e. psychologists, Masters of social work, marriage and family therapist, or professional counselor) influences the outcome of mental health treatment. This study also explores whether therapy modality (i.e. individual, conjoint, or mixed mode, a combination of individual and conjoint therapy) influences therapy outcome. Treatment outcome was measured by recidivism rates, client drop out from therapy, the total number of sessions, and cost of treatment. Participants included 230 males and 189 females ages 18 to 101 (M =38.9, SD = 11.4) who received treatment for sexual disorders from 2001 to 2006. Participants were from all regions of the United States. Results indicate that overall, psychotherapeutic treatment for sexual dysfunctions is relatively brief, averaging about seven sessions across all professions. Results suggest that marriage and family therapists treat sexual dysfunctions using a conjoint and mixed mode approach more frequently than therapists with other licenses. Results also suggest that mixed mode therapy has drastically lower dropout rates and longer retention than individual or conjoint therapy. These results suggest that utilizing a combination of relational and individual sessions is beneficial to the treatment of sexual dysfunctions.

As many as one in five children and adolescents may suffer from a mental health disorder, yet there are barriers that often prevent children from receiving optimal treatment. The current study explores the influence of practitioner license type, therapy modality, diagnosis, age, and gender on mental health therapy for children and adolescents. Data was provided by Cigna, a leading health care insurance provider in the United States. Participants include 106,374 boys (53.2%) and 93,753 girls (46.8%) ages 3 to 18 (M = 12.1, SD = 3.9) who were treated in outpatient facilities throughout the United States of America. Results indicate that there are differences in dropout, recidivism, cost, and treatment length by provider license, therapy modality, diagnosis, age, and gender. Specifically, results suggest that marriage and family therapists have the lowest percent recidivism and are among the lowest in terms of dropout and cost effectiveness. The results also suggest that family therapy is more cost effective than individual or mixed therapy and that mixed therapy has a much lower percent dropout than individual or family therapy. Analysis by diagnosis suggests a potential severity scale based on dropout, recidivism, and number of sessions. There are also significant differences in dropout and recidivism by age suggesting that younger children are more likely to dropout of treatment. These results provide valuable information about mental health treatment of children and adolescents. Specifically, utilizing a family based approach may help reduce the total length of treatment while utilizing a mixed mode approach to therapy may help reduce the risk of dropout from treatment. Also, some diagnoses appear to be more difficult to treat, with higher percentages of dropout and requiring more time and money for successful treatment. Limitations and future directions are discussed.