Zgourides G D
Oregon Graduate School of Professional Psychology, Pacific University, Forest Grove 97116.
Percept Mot Skills. 1988 Feb;66(1):319-22. doi: 10.2466/pms.1988.66.1.319.
A major difficulty in treating paruresis (psychogenic urinary retention) by prolonged in vivo exposure therapy involves the individual's inability to initiate urination in response to anxiety-provoking stimuli easily and frequently enough to generalize the desired behavior to everyday situations. Administration of bethanechol chloride, a parasympathomimetic compound that facilitates urination by prompting contraction of the detrusor muscle of the bladder, prior to therapeutic sessions is suggested to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of in vivo desensitization procedures in the treatment of paruresis.
