A study conducted in Hungary on individuals with paraphilic concerns and paraphilic disorders found that these individuals were much more likely to suffer from various sexual dysfunctions compared to individuals without paraphilias. Participants with perverted interests were 3.1 times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction and 1.59 times more likely to suffer from female orgasm disorder. The odds of sexual dysfunction were even higher for people with perversion disorder. The paper was published in. Sex & Couple Therapy Journal.
Paraphilia is a persistent or recurrent intense sexual interest focused on atypical objects, situations, or activities. Legal classification distinguishes between criminal and non-criminal paraphilias. From a psychiatric perspective, we distinguish between non-sexual interests and non-sexual disorders.
Paraphilic interests are abnormal sexual interests and do not in themselves indicate pathology. Having abnormal sexual interests does not automatically result in a mental disorder. Some people have atypical interests but they don’t bother them or cause them any harm to anyone. In such cases, the interest may be classified as a paraphilic interest, but not as a paraphilic disorder. Most people with abnormal sexual interests do not meet the criteria for a paraphilic disorder.
A paraphilic disorder is diagnosed only when the interest causes clinically significant distress or disability, or when acting on the interest involves harm, risk of harm, or non-consenting persons. Paraphilic disorders include conditions such as voyeurism disorder, exhibitionism disorder, frotteuristic disorder (sexual arousal from rubbing against a nonconsenting person, often in crowded public places), fetish disorder, sexual masochism disorder, sexual sadism disorder, and pedophilic disorder.
Study author Dávid Pócs and his colleagues examined the sexual behavior history and sexual dysfunction of individuals reporting paraphilic interest or paraphilic disorders and compared them to a group of sociodemographically matched individuals without paraphilia. They wanted to learn more about the relationship between paraphilias and sexual dysfunction, and also wanted to see if the two groups differed in their sexual behavior histories.
The study participants were 8,282 people recruited through social media advertisements and online university platforms. Their average age was 22 years. 69% were women. 97% consider themselves Hungarian.
Study participants completed an online questionnaire asking about various sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behaviors (e.g., exposure to pornography, age of first exposure, early sexual experiences, age of first sexual intercourse, etc.), sexual dysfunction, and paraphilic interests (using a series of self-report items that closely followed psychiatric diagnostic criteria for paraphilic interests and disorders).
For analysis, participants with paraphilic disorders were matched with a group of equal-sized participants without paraphilia and with similar sociodemographic characteristics. The same was done for participants with paraphilic interests. Overall in the group, there were 164 participants with paraphilic disorders and 1,878 participants with paraphilic interests.
Comparing a group of participants with paraphilic interests to a group of participants without paraphilias, the results showed that participants with paraphilic interests were 3.1 times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction, 60% more likely to have premature ejaculation, and 59% more likely to suffer from female orgasm disorder.
Participants with perversion disorder were 4.47 times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. They were also more likely to suffer from male hyposexual activity disorder (decreased sexual desire) and 7.67 times more likely to suffer from female sexual interest/sexual arousal disorder compared to a matched group of participants without paraphilias.
Participants with paraphilic interests were more likely to have been exposed to pornography, and both participants with paraphilic interests and participants with paraphilic disorders tended to first encounter pornography at an earlier age on average. Participants with paraphilia were also almost twice as likely to report having been sexually abused in childhood. Additionally, they often considered their sex education to be inadequate and tended to rate the quality of their first intercourse as low.
“In non-clinical populations, paraphilic concerns and disorders were significantly associated with multiple sexual dysfunctions. These findings highlight a clinically relevant pattern of comorbidity,” the study authors concluded.
This study contributes to the scientific understanding of the association between paraphilias and sexual function. However, it should be noted that most of the participants in this study were young people. Results for other demographic groups may vary. Furthermore, the design of this study does not allow us to infer causality from the results.
The paper, “Sexual dysfunction in individuals with paraphilic interests: Findings from a large cross-sectional study,” was authored by Dávid Pócs, Csaba Erdős, Ádám Tőtös, Jezdancher Watti, Gergely Tari, and Oguz Kelemem.
