News tagged with hypersexuality

Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown. Medical conditions such as bipolar disorders can give rise to hypersexuality, and alcohol and some drugs can affect social and sexual inhibitions in some people. A number of theoretical models have been used to explain or treat hypersexuality. The most common one, especially in the popular media, is the sexual addiction approach, but sexologists have not reached any consensus. Alternative explanations for the condition include compulsive and impulsive behavioral models.

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) of the World Health Organization includes “Excessive Sexual Drive” (coded F52.8), which is divided into satyriasis for males and nymphomania for females, and “Excessive Masturbation” (coded F98.8).

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) rejected a proposal to add sexual addiction to its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). A proposal to include Hypersexual Disorder, which is not Hypersexuality, simply describes the symptom without implying any specific theory, is under consideration for inclusion in the appendix of the DSM, but not in the main list of official diagnoses.

Some authors have questioned whether it makes sense to discuss hypersexuality at all, arguing that extreme sexual urges merely stigmatize persons who do not conform to the norms of their culture or peer group.