Seven Deadly Sins Explores Sexual Disorders

Statement from the Seven Deadly Sins: Sex addictions and sexual disorders are products of psychological and physical abnormalities within the human brain and body. They are not products of society, but are in fact perpetuated and scrutinized within social paradigms for the purpose of evaluating the people that they affect.

This background report is a profile of several sexual disorders, including sex addictions and paraphilias, restless genital syndrome and sexsomnia. These disorders are controversial and the subject of debate amongst medical and psychological professionals as well as to social scrutiny as to what qualifies a sexual habit to be a “disorder.” These issues encompass many of the constructionisms and assumptions as well social paradigms, conflicting beliefs on causations of disorders and the underlying implications for society that a sexual disorder can present.

Sex addictions and paraphilias are controversial due to the social implications that they create. Sex addiction is a debated topic amongst psychological professionals, and currently it does not meet the DSM IV paradigm for a “mental disorder,” leaving it unclassified as an addictive behavior. This relates to the material covered in Anne Fausto-Sterlings “Sexing the Body” for it is a direct example of how certain facets of sexuality fit certain paradigms, while others fail to be approved by society for a particular paradigm. It affects roughly 8% of the United States male population and 3% of the female population.

Causes

Sex addiction can be described as addictive behavior manifesting itself as the insatiable desire for sexual intercourse and other sexually fulfilling activities. A majority of studies are indicative that sexual addictions begin in adolescence and young adulthood and are typically the product of sexual abuse or rape during the victim’s childhood.

Symptoms

Addictive behaviors include extramarital affairs, excessive masturbation, visits to strip clubs and massage parlors, prostitution, hiring of prostitutes, high risk unprotected sex, porn addiction, multiple partners and in extreme cases, molestation and rape.

The neurological approach to sex addiction views it as a manifestation of addictive behavior in the form of uncontrollable sexual impulses. Sex addictions can be attributed to chemical imbalances in the brain, namely the hypothalamus, the pleasure center of the brain. Administration of antidepressants as well as other psychotropic drugs has yielded positive results for the afflicted in the control of their urges and symptoms. This is indicative that the problem is simply an imbalance within the brain and is treatable with the appropriate medications. The psychological approach to sex addictions is based primarily in talk therapy, where the victims of the disorder are encouraged to talk about their urges and discuss methods of controlling them. Talk therapy often seeks to discover underlying psychological causes for the addictive behavior, such as sexual abuse suffered by the addict during childhood. There are also variations in the social viewpoints of sex addictions. Sex is a huge part of social culture, and as demonstrated in a Billion Wicked Thoughts, there is a high availability of porn and other sex tools for addicts that can cause a subtle problem to proliferate, thus making sex addictions products of a sex-centric society. These various approaches to sex addiction as a disorder make it a highly controversial topic that has yet to be fit into a paradigm in the medical and psychological spectrum of disorders, but we believe that sex addiction can only be perpetuated by the availability of outlets such as porn and strip clubs, the root cause of the problem lies within the addicts brain, and is not created by exposure to sexual imagery or encounters.

Case Studies

1. A minister in his 50’s had spent over 10 years of his career having sexual affairs with female parishioners who had come to him seeking counseling. He eventually stopped the affairs, but several women came forward and exposed him, causing him to lose his standing in the church and suffer public humiliation

2. A homosexual man in his late 20’s spent several hours every day walking around parks and other public areas in search of sexual partners. His obsession was having sex with as many anonymous partners as possible, and despite his fear of contracting HIV and eventually getting aids, his addiction to sex was too powerful to be overcome by these fears

More stories and accounts available at:

http://www.jenniferschneider.com/articles/family_disorders.html

Paraphilias are described as the perversion of sexual desire as well as abnormal sexual obsessions.

Examples of different paraphilias:

Pedophilia (desire for children) exhibitionism, fetishism (desire for or attraction to non-sexual, non-living objects), masochism, voyeurism (peeping), sadism (pain or humiliation) and necrophilia (attraction to corpses).

Paraphilias are highly controversial due to the potential threat that they can pose to society as well as the unorthodox, socially unacceptable behavior that they envelop. Pedophiles are seen as a menace to society due to their sexual desires for children, and other paraphilias are often utilized in gritty TV shows, notably Law and Order SVU.

Paraphilias and Society

Recently, the Internet has allowed some pedophiles to justify and normalize their feelings by offering them chat rooms and social networking abilities to share their problem with fellow pedophiles. This allows pedophiles to challenge social constructions that their urges are “bad” and instead offer justifications for their sexual feelings by being able to identify with others that have the same urges.

Treatment

Paraphilias, unlike sex addiction, are defined by the DSM IV and have concrete criteria for their diagnosis. Treatment of paraphilias include various forms of talk therapy and drugs to control sexual desires including hormone therapy.

SexsomniaWe are limited in the way which we view the world because of language. However, despite languages obvious limitations, is there a creative force behind words? So your partner seems to have--or want to have-- sexual relations in their sleep (consistently)? What potential consequences could arise? Is this a far reaching epidemic? In 1996 language used its inventive powers and the sex “disorder” Sexsomnia was born.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZh7F_YHfSc

Kinsey describes a wide range of variation in human sexuality that is present even when we are asleep. Sexsomnia is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain or previous psychological damage; the physical pleasure of sleep sex is hardly of concern, as the patient is completely asleep. Evidence of this problem being purely psychological, and not pleasure based, is evident in many cases:

1) A 34-year-old married man would spontaneously masturbate to ejaculation every night after he had been asleep 2–3 hours, and was not arousable. Nightly sleep masturbation occurred while he continued to engage in sexual intercourse with his wife every night before falling asleep.

2) A 26-year-old married woman had a history of abruptly tearing off her clothing and masturbating violently during the first half of the night. Her masturbation was associated with soft to loud vocalization and occasional vaginal discharge. If her husband interrupted the episode of masturbation, it might recur a second or a third time during the night. Any attempt to initiate intercourse after she was awakened was rejected, and she denied the behavior

3) A 26-year-old woman would initiate foreplay with her bed partner while they were both asleep between 02:00 and 05:00 and would utter sexually provocative phrases while fondling him. Whenever he responded positively to her involuntary sexual overtures during sleep, she would then awaken and accuse him of forcing sex on her while she slept.

Further examination of sexsomnia being purely a psychological disorder is evident in other case studies where heterosexuals engaged in homosexual behavior during an episode of sexsomnia.

This leads to the basic question of whether sexual orientation is inherent or developed, Nature vs Nurture. Anne Fausto-Sterling’s commentary on Nature vs Nurture is especially relevant to this topic. When we aren’t conscious (asleep) are we concerned with societal rules that define a gender construct permanently? What does this tell us about true sexual nature? If heterosexuals are engaging in homosexual behavior, is essentialism or constructionism a more fitting model (AFS 17). Examining homosexual acts exhibited by those with sexsomnia offers more evidence for a culturally derived definition of desire and sexuality. Furthermore, it gives evidence that these sexual disorders do stem from chemical imbalance and possible previous psychological trauma. Modern stigmas associated with homosexuality make it very difficult for people to come out and live their lifestyle, therefore, why would a heterosexual knowingly engage in homosexual behavior (homosexuality is a choice opinion)? This shows that the physical pleasure aspect of sexsomnia is irrelevant because of the enormous risk a heterosexual takes by performing homosexual activities. The problem must be psychologically derived and bears little notice to received pleasure.

Society’s views on sexsomnia also legitimizes it as a psychiatric illness. The anti-anxiety perscription drug clonazepam is considered the common cure. This drug is also used to treat bi-polar and depressed patients as well. Sexsomnia has also been cited in legal trials. There have been people that have used sexsomnia to defend rape and molestation allegations. The first paper to identify and coin the term “sexsomnia” described a few of these cases in which people were charged with sexual assault (initiated while sleeping) and after data showing “sexsomnia” tendencies, they were aquitted! Mentally ill aquittals require specific standards to be met and can be seen here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/faqs.html

Could sexsomnia lead us to more realizations about our sexuality and human desire? Although the majority of victims of the sexsomniacs had negative response to their partner (or assailant), some positive outcomes were noted:

1) A woman who slept with a sexsomniac boyfriend commented on how he was a “different person during these activities—apparently, he is a more amorous and gentle lover and more oriented toward satisfying his partner when he is asleep.

2) One woman commented that her boyfriend's sleepsex was more “aggressive and dominant” than his waking sexual behavior, and she “found some aspects of the sleepsex pleasurable…and a little kinky,” such as “forceful albeit playful biting and ‘talking dirty,‘ but “nonetheless she requested that the patient incorporate some of the nighttime sexual practices...into their conscious daytime lovemaking.

What could the above two examples tell us about our own sexual nature? As Ogaddam reiterated, we are a culture where the majority of us (based of porn searches) have a kinky sexual side or a curiosity into the unordinary. Many of us in class brought up the point that statistics cannot generalize humanities sexual desires. However, sexsomnia offers a unique view into the unconscious and has reinforced Ogaddams generalization, in this specific case at least.

Sexsomnia’s recent emergence has left much up to debate, as extensive testing and case studies has yet to be done. The leading researcher, Carlos Schenck, is from the University of Minnesota! Sexsomnia has been prevalent in the media as well. Hopefully, with more people being informed on sexsomnia, more case studies will emerge providing us with a better understanding of this psychiatric disorder. Or are these people just horny?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15427247/#.T0WpT5i0Tao

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleepless-in-america/200902/sexsomnia

http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/sleep-sex-or-sexsomnia-it-could-happen-to-you/weird-science

Restless Genital Syndrome Very little is known about Restless Genital Syndrome or ReGS. The syndrome was originally named and diagnosed only 11 years ago in 2011. ReGS is a syndrome that effects only women and can reach a point where it effectually rules a woman’s life and in some cases has caused bad consequences in their lifes.

So what exactly is ReGS? It is a disorder that affects a woman’s genitals, usually her clitoris, and the genitals are in a constant state of arousal or stimulation. While this may sound like a positive side effect it is actually quite the opposite. It can be painful and distracting for the woman. The constant stimulation is completely unwanted for women and there often isn’t a way to get rid of it. The biggest struggle can in fact be the diagnose of the disorder.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352357,00.html

This article on Fox News has two women’s stories about the struggles they went through with diagnostics and the consequences that it had on their lives. As Jeannie stated, for a long time this disorder was either written off as a psychological disorder as diagnosed as a sexual addiction. For most women this didn’t fit because the symptoms they were experiencing were purely physical and did not correlate to any sort of emotional or mental response they were having to sex.

In recent years the study further into what causes ReGS has taken off. Although things are still not perfectly clear, there a few causes that have taken prominent notice. These range from pelvic vein disorders, a dysfunctional nerve in the clitoris, to hormonal changes and getting off of antidepressants. Since there isn’t much known about what always causes ReGS it is hard to treat it as well. Some women report that obsessive masturbation can help to cure the stimulation for a few minutes, but the state of orgasm must be achieved repeatedly for it to help the woman at all. Other medical treatments like clonazepam are being looked into but don’t seem to have a large affect.

In the past 10 years studies have started delving deeper into ReGS and have found that it is linked to both Restless Leg Syndrome and Overactive Bladder Syndrome. These results lead to the conclusion that unlike sex addiction and sexsomnia , ReGS is in fact a physical sexual disorder. The psychological does not play a part in the constant stimulation and arousal of woman. Given the nature of the disorder, women are often embarrassed by the stigma of being “sex crazed” and don’t step forward for diagnostics and treatment. Popularization of ReGS would make it easier and more comfortable for women to approach doctors, or even friends, and describe their treatment and get treated. Breaking this ground would also help the doctors to study ReGS and find new information to help women.

http://www.psas.nl/artikelen/Clitoridectomy.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19732313

In Conclusion:

Sexual desire and the pleasure gained from sex primarily appears to be purely physical and psychological, in terms of the physical and psychological satisfaction that engaging in sexual activity brings to most people. As demonstrated by these sexual addictions and disorders, mental and physical abnormalities are the root cause of the problem, indicating that it is a flaw within the human nature, and not a product of nurture.

Bibliography

Ewald, Roschbeth. "Sexual Addiction." AllPsych Journal. AllPsych Online and Heffner Media Group Inc., 13 May 2003. Web.

Herkov, Michael. "What Causes Sexual Addiction?" Psych Central. Web. .

Hucker, Stephen. "Forensic Psychiatry. Ca." Paraphilias. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. .

Shapiro, Colin. Et al. "Sexsomnia—A New Parasomnia? ."Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 48. (2003): 311-317. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. .