Q: What are my chances of recovering fully?

A: Your chances of recovering to any degree are negligible if you have a physiological cause to your urinating difficulty and you choose to treat it as a psychological disorder (paruresis). You must first get a medical screen (see medical screen FAQ) to rule out any physiological causes.

Having ruled out physical causes to urination difficulties, the majority of IPA workshop attendees will see a marked reduction of their symptoms after a series of CBT treatments and diligent practice several times daily over a period of several weeks to several months. This post-workshop program is essential for recovery.  The vast majority of people who attend workshops won’t make long-term progress without it. The degree of your improvement is very dependent on the amount of work you invest in recovering from both the primary and secondary aspects of paruresis. It also depends on your willingness to voluntarily expose yourself to feelings of dread and embarrassment during recovery. It isn't easy, but it is very feasible to recover markedly from this disorder.  

Peer-reviewed studies of various treatments for social anxiety (but not paruresis itself, since we do not have specific studies on large populations) indicate an approximate rate of long-term improvement (reduction of symptoms) for somewhere between 40 and 65 percent of the study participants, depending on the study. Higher rates were reported for people who combined therapy techniques, such as CBT plus a support group, medication plus a support group, or all three in combination. While these are not stellar recovery rates, they are significant.

Recent studies on cognitive-behavioral therapy[iv],[v] for social anxiety indicate that the highest recovery rates happen when treatment includes exposure therapy and cognitive restructuring, which consists of learning to question one’s flawed thinking and substitute healthy patterns of thinking.