Paraphilic Disorders

Introduction

• The term paraphilia denotes any intense and persistent sexual interest other than sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically mature, consenting human partners. In some circumstances, the criteria "intense and persistent" may be difficult to apply, such as in the assessment of persons who are very old or medically ill and who may not have "intense" sexual interests of any kind.

• Some paraphilias primarily concern the individual's erotic activities, and others primarily concern the individual's erotic targets.

• A paraphilic disorder is a paraphilia that is currently causing distress or impairment to the individual or a paraphilia whose satisfaction has entailed personal harm, or risk of harm, to others.

• A paraphilia is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for having a paraphilic disorder, and a paraphilia by itself does not necessarily justify or require clinical intervention.

Studies Related to Paraphilic Disorders

• Attitudes of Medical Students Towards Paraphilic Disorders

Phebe Tucker, Chris Candler, Robert M. Hamm, E. Michael Smith & Joseph C. Hudson (2010) Assessing changes in medical student attitudes toward non-traditional human sexual behaviors using a confidential audience response system, Sex Education, 10:1, 37-45, DOI: 10.1080/14681810903491362