Dr. Andrew Allen

Sexual violence is a prominent and global health concern, characterised by a continuum of harmful sexual behaviour, ranging from coercion to engage in sexual acts to serious violent assault and even death. Origins of sexual violence encompass multiple pathways to offending, including genetic predispositions, adverse childhood experiences, sociocultural processes, and contextual influences. For perpetrators of sex crimes, a recurring consideration in treatment frameworks resides in an individual’s experience of sexual fantasies that arguably preceded and perpetuate harmful sexual behaviour. However, empirically supported psychological interventions for sexual fantasy management in the context of sexual violence perpetration are suboptimal, prompting the need for both further research and alternative treatment approaches. The theoretical underpinnings of both the cognitive nature of sexual fantasies and eye-movement desensitisation reprocessing (EMDR) therapy present opportunities for such exploration. Accordingly, this thesis (a) systematically examined the available evidence concerning psychological interventions for sexual fantasies; (b) explored how the phenomenological characteristics of sexual fantasies relate to sexual behaviour and differ between those with and without harmful sexual interests and behavioural history; and (c) investigated the efficacy of an abbreviated EMDR intervention for sexual fantasies in the general population. A literature review, four empirical studies, and a discussion were designed for this purpose. Collectively, the findings generated from this thesis may be used to inform future research and interventions regarding sexual violence perpetration, with the ultimate goal of mitigating risk of harm and promoting public safety.