SEXUAL DISORDER

PSYACOR13T : Understanding & Dealing With Psychological Disorder

What is Sexual Disorder ?

Psychologists define sexual disorders as a group of

dysfunctions caused by a person's inability to fully engage in
and derive pleasure from sex.
The latest version (Fifth Edition) of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by
the American Psychiatric Association, acknowledges the
interrelationship between mind, body, and emotion in sexual
response with possible causes of dysfunction in each realm.
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Gender Identity Disorder

‘Gender Identity’ refers to the individual’s self-perception as a male and female. It is a significant distress
or impairment due to his or her assigned gender and strongly wishes to be a member of another gender.

DSM-5 states that the initial condition for the identification of gender identity disorder in both adults and
teenagers is a noticeable incongruence between the gender the patient believes they are, and what society
perceives them to be. This disparity should be ongoing for at least 6 months and should consist of 2 or more
of the subsequent criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 2013):
 Noticeable incongruence between the gender that the patient sees themselves are, and what their classified gender
assignment
 An intense need to do away with his or her primary or secondary sex features (or, in the case of young teenagers, to
avert the maturity of the likely secondary features)
 An intense desire to have the primary or secondary sex features of the other gender
 A deep desire to transform into another gender
 A profound need for society to treat them as another gender
 A powerful assurance of having the characteristic feelings and responses of the other gender
 The second necessity is that the condition should be connected with clinically important distress, or affects the
individual significantly socially, at work, and in other import areas of life.
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 Types

Richard Carroll (2007), a leading theorist on gender dysphoria, has described the three patterns
of gender identity disorder for which people most commonly seek treatment:
(1)Female-to-Male Gender Identity Disorder : People with a female-to-male gender dysphoria
pattern are born female but appear or behave in a stereotypically masculine manner from early
on often as young as 3 years of age or younger.
(2)Male-to-Female Gender Identity Disorder; Androphilic Type :People with an androphilic
type of male-to-female gender dysphoria are born male but appear or behave in a
stereotypically female manner from birth.
(3)Male-to-Female Gender Identity Disorder; Autogynephilic type. : People with an
autogynephilic type of male-to female gender dysphoria are not sexually attracted to males;
rather, they are attracted to the idea of themselves being female (the term "autogynephilic"
means attracted to herself as a female).
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Paraphilic Disorder

•Paraphilia is any intense (in some preferential) and persistent sexual interest other than sexual
interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically
mature, consenting human partners.

•Paraphilic disorder exists when recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or
behaviors currently cause distress or impairment to the individual or whose satisfaction has
entailed personal harm, or risk of harm, to others generally involving: non-human objects, the
suffering or humiliation of oneself or one’s partner, children, or non-consenting persons.

•While there is an almost infinite variety of sexual interests, the DSM5 identifies eight

(Exhibitionism, Fetishism, Frotteurism, Pedophilia, Sexual masochism, Sexual sadism,
Transvestism, & Voyeurism) because these are the most significant clinically.

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Characteristics

Behavior in which an individual has recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving
(1) nonhuman objects
Paraphilia
(2) children or other nonconsenting persons
(3) the suffering or humiliation of self or partner

Transvestic disorder Engages in cross-dressing associated with intense distress or impairment

Exhibitionistic disorder Derive pleasure from exposing genitals to an unsuspecting person

Fetishism is sexual arousal from an object

Fetishistic disorder and partialism
Partialism is sexual arousal from a part of the body

Frotteuristic disorder Sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies of rubbing up against or fondling unsuspecting persons

Sexual masochism Masochism is being aroused by being made to suffer (beaten, humiliated, bound)

Pedophilic disorder Sexual arousal for children or adolescents

Sexual sadism Sadism is being aroused by inflicting suffering on another person

Voyeuristic disorder Derive sexual pleasure from observing an unsuspecting person who is naked, disrobing, or engaged in intimate behavior
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Exhibitionistic Disorder

Exhibitionistic Disorder is a mental disorder that causes a person to expose his sexual
organs or genitals to other people, usually people they’ve never met and are not
expecting it, according to the American Psychiatric Association. The exhibitionist gets
sexual enjoyment from the behavior.

The DSM-5 provides the following symptoms of Exhibitionistic Disorder.

 The behaviors occur over a time period of six months.
 The behavior is repeated and the result is extreme sexual arousal when showing the genitals to strangers.
 The behavior makes the individual very distressed.
 Social, career and/or everyday life is disrupted.
 When the person is examined, other mental and physical illnesses are ruled out.
 The check-up must take into account if the individual is abusing substances.
 The degree of distress the individual feels about his behavior, as well as his feelings about the victim of his behavior,
must be considered.
 The person displays his exhibitionistic behavior to a person who inability to control the behavior is geared to a person
who does not permit or agree to it.
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Voyeuristic Disorder

According to the DSM-5, voyeuristic disorder may be diagnosed if an individual continuously

experiences strong sexual arousal from observing an unsuspecting person who is either
naked, undressing, or engaging in sexual activity.

The following diagnostic criteria for identifying whether one has voyeuristic disorder, can apply to both disclosing & non-disclosing
individuals:
 Over a period of at least 6 months (as a general guideline), the individual receives persistent and intense sexual arousal from
deliberately observing an unsuspecting person who is naked, in the process of undressing, or engaging in sexual activity.
 The individual has acted on these sexual impulses with a nonconsenting person, or the urges and/or fantasies cause clinically significant
distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
 The individual is at least 18 years of age.
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The following two specifiers are important to tracking progress in controlling or recovering from the disorder:
 In a controlled environment: This specifier is primarily used to describe individuals living in settings where opportunities to engage
in voyeuristic behavior is restricted.
 In full remission: This specifier is applicable to individuals that have not acted on their urges with a nonconsenting person, nor has
there been any distress or impairment in any areas of functioning, for at least 5 years while in an uncontrolled environment .
 Pedophilic Disorder

Pedophilic disorder pertains to both individuals who freely disclose this paraphilic interest
and individuals who deny any sexual attraction to prepubescent children—or those 13
years and younger—despite substantial evidence of the attraction.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), outlines diagnostic criteria that must be met
in order for a diagnosis of pedophilic disorder to be made. The criteria are as follows:
 The individual experiences intense sexually arousing fantasies or urges involving sexual activity
 With prepubescent children, over a period of at least 6 months.
 The individual has acted on these sexual urges, or the urges have caused serious distress.
 He or she is at least 16 years of age and at least 5 years older than his or her victim. Note: This does not pertain to
individuals in late adolescence who are involved in ongoing sexual relationships with, say, 12 or 13-year-olds.

If the individual meets the criteria for pedophilic disorder, it should also be evaluated and specified if the disorder is:
 Exclusive type, whereas the individual is only attracted to children
 Nonexclusive type, whereas the individual is attracted to children in addition to mature individuals.
 Limited to incest
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Sexual Masochism Disorder

The DSM-5 explains that sexual masochism disorder is diagnosed in individuals who experience
sexual arousal in response to extreme pain, humiliation, bondage, or torture. The masochist will have
unrelenting fantasies with urges to be beaten, bound or humiliated during sex (American Psychiatric
Association, 2013).

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the individual must
experience the following to be diagnosed with sexual masochism:

 Recurrent intense fantasies, urges, or behaviors involving real acts of receiving extreme physical pain, torture, or
humiliation for sexual arousal.
 Present for at least 6 months
 Results in significant impairment or distress in daily life (relationships, occupational or social functioning)
 Specify if it is occurring with Asphyxiophilia (sexual arousal by asphyxiation)

Masochistic behaviors can be self inflicted, but must be differentiated between injury not for the purposes of sexual arousal.
The masochist inflicts pain on themselves for reasons of arousal. Cases of severe injury or death do happen, and are
especially worrisome when an individual with a paraphilic disorder also has psychopathy
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Sexual Sadism Disorder

According to the DSM-5, to be diagnosed with sexual sadism disorder, a person must
experience persistent and intense sexual arousal from causing or fantasizing about
the physical or mental suffering of another person, with or without their consent.

The DSM-5 sets forth a couple diagnostic criterion, which must be met in order for a diagnosis of sexual sadism disorder to be
made. These include:
 For 6 months or more, the individual has experienced intense sexual arousal from the physical or psychological suffering of
another, as manifested by fantasies as well as behaviors.
 The individual has acted on these sexual fantasies with a nonconsenting person, OR the fantasies have caused clinically
significant impairment in important areas of life (at one’s job or in his or her personal relationships).
It’s also important to specify if sexual sadism disorder is…
 in a controlled environment, whereas the individual is living in an institutional setting or another setting which restricts
opportunities to engage in sadistic sexual behaviors.
 in full remission, whereas the individual has not acted on his or her paraphilic interests and urges with a nonconsenting
person, and hasn’t felt distress or impairment in important areas of life, within the last 5 years (or longer) while in an
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 Conclusion

Sexual dysfunction is an undesirable physical or psychological condition that occurs

in both male and female and is unrelated to criminal behavior. In contrast, the
paraphilias are very much intertwined with criminal offenses. Sex offenses are some
of the hardest disorders to treat due to the physical pleasure that the offender
experiences at the expense of his or her victims. Sexual offenders, in particular
pedophiles, are of great concern because many of them begin offending at a very
young age and are able to elude detection for decades. The immense number of child
victims that a pedophile might have over his or her lifetime can be staggering.

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 Thank You
Name : Snigdha Dasgupta
Registration No. : 1371921400395
College Roll No. : 3716

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