Hypersexual Disorder

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Hypersexual disorder is a pattern of behavior involving intense preoccupation with sexual fantasies and behaviours that cause distress, are inappropriately used to cope with stress, cannot be voluntarily curtailed, and risk or cause harm to oneself or others. This disorder can also cause impairment in social, occupational or other important functions. It was proposed in 2010 for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

Criteria

People with hypersexual disorder experience multiple, unsuccessful attempts to control or diminish the amount of time spent engaging in sexual fantasies, urges, and behaviors. Individuals may engage in sexual behaviors that they experience as compulsive, despite knowledge of adverse medical, legal, and/or interpersonal consequences, and may neglect social and recreational activities and role responsibilities

For a valid diagnosis of hypersexual disorder to be established, symptoms must persist for a period of at least 6 months and occur independently of mania or a medical condition.

History

Hypersexual disorder was recommended for inclusion in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) by the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Workgroup (Emerging Measures and Models, Conditions for Further Study). It was ultimately not approved. The term hypersexual disorder was reportedly chosen because it did not imply any specific theory for the causes of hypersexuality, which remain unknown. A proposal to add sexual addiction to the DSM system had been previously rejected by the APA, as not enough evidence suggested to them that the condition is analogous to substance addictions, as that name would imply.

Rory Reid, a research psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), led a team of researchers to investigate the proposed criteria for Hypersexual Disorder. Their findings were published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine where they concluded that the given criteria is valid and the disorder could be reliably diagnosed.

The DSM-IV-TR, published in 2000, includes an entry called "Sexual Disorder—Not Otherwise Specified" (Sexual Disorder NOS), for disorders that are clinically significant but do not have code. The DSM-IV-TR notes that Sexual Disorder NOS would apply to, among other conditions, "distress about a pattern of repeated sexual relationships involving a succession of lovers who are experienced by the individual only as things to be used".

See also