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Sexual Disorders and Gender Identity Disorder

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In men: erection of the penis. In women: clitoral swelling and vaginal lubrication ... The use of certain medications and substances may interfere with erections. 20 ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Sexual Disorders and Gender Identity Disorder


1
Chapter 13
Slides Handouts by Karen Clay Rhines, Ph.D.
Seton Hall University
  • Sexual Disorders and Gender Identity Disorder

2
Sexual Disorders and Gender Identity Disorder
  • Sexual behavior is a major focus of both our
    private thoughts and public discussions
  • Experts recognize two general categories of
    sexual disorders
  • Sexual dysfunctions problems with sexual
    responses
  • Paraphilias sexual urges and fantasies in
    response to socially inappropriate objects or
    situations
  • DSM-IV-TR also includes a diagnosis called gender
    identity disorder, a sex-related disorder in
    which people feel that they have been assigned to
    the wrong sex

3
Sexual Dysfunctions
  • Sexual dysfunctions are disorders in which people
    cannot respond normally in key areas of sexual
    functioning
  • As many as 31 of men and 43 of women in the
    U.S. suffer from such a dysfunction during their
    lives
  • Sexual dysfunctions are typically very
    distressing, and often lead to sexual
    frustration, guilt, loss of self-esteem, and
    interpersonal problems

4
Sexual Dysfunctions
  • The human sexual response can be described as a
    cycle with four phases
  • Desire
  • Excitement
  • Orgasm
  • Resolution
  • Sexual dysfunctions affect one or more of the
    first three phases

5
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7
Sexual Dysfunctions
  • Some people struggle with sexual dysfunction
    their whole lives (labeled lifelong type in
    DSM-IV-TR)
  • For others, normal sexual functioning preceded
    the disorder (labeled acquired type)
  • In some cases the dysfunction is present during
    all sexual situations (labeled generalized
    type)
  • In others it is tied to particular situations
    (labeled situational type)

8
Disorders of Desire
  • Desire phase of the sexual response cycle
  • Consists of an urge to have sex, sexual
    fantasies, and sexual attraction to others
  • Two dysfunctions affect this phase
  • Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
  • Sexual aversion disorder

9
Disorders of Desire
  • Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
  • Characterized by a lack of interest in sex and a
    low level of sexual activity
  • Physical responses may be normal
  • Prevalent in about 16 of men and 33 of women
  • DSM-IV-TR refers to deficient sexual
    interest/activity but provides no definition of
    deficient
  • In reality, this criterion is difficult to define

10
Disorders of Desire
  • Sexual aversion disorder
  • Characterized by a total aversion to (disgust of)
    sex
  • Sexual advances may sicken, repulse, or frighten
  • This disorder seems to be rare in men and more
    common in women

11
Disorders of Desire
  • A persons sex drive is determined by a
    combination of biological, psychological, and
    sociocultural factors, and any of these may
    reduce sexual desire
  • Most cases of low sexual desire or sexual
    aversion are caused primarily by sociocultural
    and psychological factors, but biological
    conditions can also lower sex drive significantly

12
Disorders of Desire
  • Biological causes
  • A number of hormones interact to produce sexual
    desire and behavior
  • Abnormalities in their activity can lower sex
    drive
  • These hormones include prolactin, testosterone,
    and estrogen for both men and women
  • Sex drive can also be lowered by chronic illness,
    some medications, some psychotropic drugs, and a
    number of illegal drugs

13
Disorders of Desire
  • Psychological causes
  • A general increase in anxiety or anger may reduce
    sexual desire in both women and men
  • Fears, attitudes, and memories may contribute to
    sexual dysfunction
  • Certain psychological disorders, including
    depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, may
    lead to sexual desire disorders

14
Disorders of Desire
  • Sociocultural causes
  • Attitudes, fears, and psychological disorders
    that contribute to sexual desire disorders occur
    within a social context
  • Many sufferers of desire disorders are feeling
    situational pressures
  • Examples divorce, death, job stress,
    infertility, and/or relationship difficulties
  • Cultural standards can impact the development of
    these disorders
  • The trauma of sexual molestation or assault is
    also likely to produce sexual dysfunction

15
Disorders of Excitement
  • Excitement phase of the sexual response cycle
  • Marked by changes in the pelvic region, general
    physical arousal, and increases in heart rate,
    muscle tension, blood pressure, and rate of
    breathing
  • In men erection of the penis
  • In women clitoral swelling and vaginal
    lubrication
  • Two dysfunctions affect this phase
  • Female sexual arousal disorder (formerly
    frigidity)
  • Male erectile disorder (formerly impotence)

16
Disorders of Excitement
  • Female sexual arousal disorder
  • Characterized by repeated inability to maintain
    proper lubrication or genital swelling during
    sexual activity
  • Many with this disorder also have desire or
    orgasmic disorders
  • It is estimated that more than 10 of women
    experience this disorder
  • Because this disorder is so often tied to an
    orgasmic disorder, researchers usually study the
    two together causes of the two disorders will be
    examined together

17
Disorders of Excitement
  • Male erectile disorder (ED)
  • Characterized by repeated inability to attain or
    maintain an adequate erection during sexual
    activity
  • An estimated 10 of men experience this disorder
  • According to surveys, half of all adult men have
    erectile difficulty during intercourse at least
    some of the time

18
Disorders of Excitement
  • Most cases of erectile disorder result from an
    interaction of biological, psychological, and
    sociocultural processes
  • Even minor physical impairment of the erection
    response may make a man vulnerable to the effects
    of psychosocial factors

19
Disorders of Excitement
  • Biological causes
  • The same hormonal imbalances that can cause
    hypoactive sexual desire can also produce ED
  • Most commonly, vascular problems are involved
  • ED can also be caused by damage to the nervous
    system from various diseases, disorders, or
    injuries
  • The use of certain medications and substances may
    interfere with erections

20
Disorders of Excitement
  • Biological causes
  • Medical devices have been developed for
    diagnosing biological causes of ED
  • One strategy involves measuring nocturnal penile
    tumescence (NPT)
  • Men typically have erections during REM sleep
    abnormal or absent nighttime erections usually
    indicate a physical basis for erectile failure

21
Disorders of Excitement
  • Psychological causes
  • Any of the psychological causes of hypoactive
    sexual desire can also interfere with erectile
    function
  • For example, as many as 90 of men with severe
    depression experience some degree of ED
  • One well-supported cognitive explanation for ED
    emphasizes performance anxiety and the spectator
    role
  • Once a man begins to have erectile difficulties,
    he becomes fearful and worried during sexual
    encounters instead of being a participant, he
    becomes a spectator and judge
  • This can create a vicious cycle of sexual
    dysfunction where the original cause of the
    erectile failure becomes less important than the
    fear of failure

22
Disorders of Excitement
  • Sociocultural causes
  • Each of the sociocultural factors tied to
    hypoactive sexual desire has also been linked to
    ED
  • Job and marital distress are particularly relevant

23
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Orgasm phase of the sexual response cycle
  • Sexual pleasure peaks and sexual tension is
    released as the muscles in the pelvic region
    contract rhythmically
  • For men semen is ejaculated
  • For women the outer third of the vaginal walls
    contract
  • There are three disorders of this phase
  • Premature ejaculation
  • Male orgasmic disorder
  • Female orgasmic disorder

24
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Premature ejaculation
  • Characterized by persistent reaching of orgasm
    and ejaculation with little sexual stimulation
  • About 30 of men experience premature ejaculation
    at some time
  • Psychological, particularly behavioral,
    explanations of this disorder have received more
    research support than other theories
  • The dysfunction seems to be typical of young,
    sexually inexperienced men
  • It may also be related to anxiety, hurried
    masturbation experiences, or poor recognition of
    arousal

25
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Male orgasmic disorder
  • Characterized by a repeated inability to reach
    orgasm or by a very delayed orgasm after normal
    sexual excitement
  • Occurs in 8 of the male population
  • Biological causes include low testosterone,
    neurological disease, and head or spinal injury
  • Medications, including certain antidepressants
    (especially SSRIs) and drugs that slow down the
    CNS, can also affect ejaculation

26
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Male orgasmic disorder
  • A leading psychological cause appears to be
    performance anxiety and the spectator role, the
    cognitive factors involved in ED

27
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Female orgasmic disorder
  • Characterized by persistent delay in or absence
    of orgasm following normal sexual excitement
  • Almost 25 of women appear to have this problem
  • 10 or more have never reached orgasm
  • An additional 10 reach orgasm only rarely
  • Women who are more sexually assertive and more
    comfortable with masturbation tend to have
    orgasms more regularly
  • Female orgasmic disorder is more common in single
    women than in married or cohabiting women

28
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Female orgasmic disorder
  • Most clinicians agree that orgasm during
    intercourse is not mandatory for normal sexual
    functioning
  • Early psychoanalytic theory used to consider lack
    of orgasm during intercourse to be pathological
  • Typically linked to female sexual arousal
    disorder
  • The two disorders tend to be studied and treated
    together
  • Once again, biological, psychological, and
    sociocultural factors may combine to produce
    these disorders

29
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Female orgasmic disorder
  • Biological causes
  • A variety of physiological conditions can affect
    a womans arousal and orgasm
  • These conditions include diabetes and multiple
    sclerosis
  • The same medications and illegal substances that
    affect erection in men can affect arousal and
    orgasm in women
  • Postmenopausal changes may also be responsible

30
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Female orgasmic disorder
  • Psychological causes
  • The psychological causes of hypoactive sexual
    desire and sexual aversion may also lead to
    female arousal and orgasmic disorders
  • Memories of childhood trauma and relationship
    distress may also be related

31
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Female orgasmic disorder
  • Sociocultural causes
  • For decades, the leading sociocultural theory of
    female sexual dysfunction was that it resulted
    from sexually restrictive cultural messages
  • This theory has been challenged because
  • Sexually restrictive histories are equally common
    in women with and without disorders
  • Cultural messages about female sexuality have
    been changing while the rate of female sexual
    dysfunction stays constant

32
Disorders of Orgasm
  • Female orgasmic disorder
  • Sociocultural causes
  • Researchers suggest that unusually stressful
    events, traumas, or relationships may produce the
    fears, memories, and attitudes that characterize
    these dysfunctions
  • Research has also linked certain qualities in a
    womans intimate relationships (such as emotional
    intimacy) to orgasmic behavior

33
Disorders of Sexual Pain
  • Two sexual dysfunctions do not fit neatly into a
    specific phase of the sexual response cycle
  • These are the sexual pain disorders
  • Vaginismus
  • Dyspareunia

34
Disorders of Sexual Pain
  • Vaginismus
  • Characterized by involuntary contractions of the
    muscles of the outer third of the vagina
  • Severe cases can prevent a woman from having
    intercourse
  • Perhaps 20 of women occasionally have pain
    during intercourse, but less than 1 of all women
    have vaginismus

35
Disorders of Sexual Pain
  • Vaginismus
  • Most clinicians agree with the cognitive-behaviora
    l theory that vaginismus is a learned fear
    response
  • A variety of factors can set the stage for this
    fear, including anxiety and ignorance about
    intercourse, trauma caused by an unskilled
    partner, and childhood sexual abuse
  • Some women experience painful intercourse because
    of infection or disease, leading to rational
    vaginismus
  • Most women with vaginismus also have other sexual
    disorders

36
Disorders of Sexual Pain
  • Dyspareunia
  • Characterized by severe pain in the genitals
    during sexual activity
  • Affects almost 15 of women and about 3 of men
  • Dyspareunia in women usually has a physical
    cause, most commonly from injury sustained in
    childbirth
  • Although relationship problems or psychological
    trauma from abuse may contribute to dyspareunia,
    psychosocial factors alone are rarely responsible

37
Treatments for Sexual Dysfunctions
  • The last 35 years have brought major changes in
    the treatment of sexual dysfunction
  • Early 20th century psychodynamic therapy
  • Believed that sexual dysfunction was caused by a
    failure to negotiate the stages of psychosexual
    development
  • Therapy focused on gaining insight and making
    broad personality changes was generally unhelpful

38
Treatments for Sexual Dysfunctions
  • 1950s and 1960s behavioral therapy
  • Behavioral therapists attempted to reduce fear by
    applying relaxation training and systematic
    desensitization
  • Had moderate success, but failed to work in cases
    where the key problems were cognitive or
    psychoeducational

39
Treatments for Sexual Dysfunctions
  • 1970 Human Sexual Inadequacy
  • This book, written by William Masters and
    Virginia Johnson, revolutionized treatment of
    sexual dysfunctions
  • This original sex therapy program has evolved
    into a complex, multidimensional approach
  • Includes techniques from cognitive, behavioral,
    couples, and family systems therapies
  • More recently, biological interventions have also
    been incorporated

40
What Are the General Features of Sex Therapy?
  • Modern sex therapy is short-term and instructive
  • Therapy typically lasts 15 to 20 sessions
  • It is centered on specific sexual problems rather
    than on broad personality issues

41
What Are the General Features of Sex Therapy?
  • Modern sex therapy includes
  • Assessing and conceptualizing the problem
  • Assigning mutual responsibility for the
    problem
  • Education about sexuality
  • Attitude change
  • Elimination of performance anxiety and the
    spectator role
  • Increasing sexual and general communication
    skills
  • Changing destructive lifestyles and marital
    interactions
  • Addressing physical and medical factors

42
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • In addition to the universal components of sex
    therapy, specific techniques can help in each of
    the sexual dysfunctions

43
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • Hypoactive sexual desire and sexual aversion
  • These disorders are among the most difficult to
    treat because of the many issues that feed into
    them
  • Therapists typically apply a combination of
    techniques which may include
  • Affectual awareness, self-instruction training,
    behavioral techniques, insight-oriented
    exercises, and biological interventions such as
    hormone treatments

44
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • Erectile disorder
  • Treatments for ED focus on reducing a mans
    performance anxiety and/or increasing his
    stimulation
  • May include sensate-focus exercises such as the
    tease technique
  • Biological approaches, used when the ED has
    biological causes, have gained great momentum
    with the recent approval of sildenafil (Viagra)
  • Most other biological approaches have been around
    for decades and include gels, suppositories,
    penile injections, a vacuum erection device
    (VED), and penile implant surgery

45
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • Male orgasmic disorder
  • Like treatment for ED, therapies for this
    disorder include techniques to reduce performance
    anxiety and increase stimulation
  • When the cause of the disorder is physical,
    treatment may include a drug to increase arousal
    of the nervous system

46
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • Premature ejaculation
  • Premature ejaculation has been successfully
    treated for years by behavioral procedures such
    as the stop-start or pause technique
  • Some clinicians favor the use of fluoxetine
    (Prozac) and other serotonin-enhancing
    antidepressant drugs
  • Because these drugs often reduce sexual arousal
    or orgasm, they may be helpful in delaying
    premature ejaculation
  • While some studies have reported positive
    findings, long-term outcome studies have yet to
    be conducted

47
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • Female arousal and orgasmic disorders
  • Specific treatment techniques for these disorders
    include self-exploration, enhancement of body
    awareness, and directed masturbation training
  • Again, a lack of orgasm during intercourse is not
    necessarily a sexual dysfunction, provided the
    woman enjoys intercourse and is orgasmic through
    other means
  • For this reason, some therapists believe that the
    wisest course of action is simply to educate
    women whose only concern is lack of orgasm
    through intercourse

48
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • Vaginismus
  • Specific treatment for vaginismus takes two
    approaches
  • Practice tightening and releasing the muscles of
    the vagina to gain more voluntary control
  • Overcome fear of intercourse through gradual
    behavioral exposure treatment
  • Over 75 of women treated for vaginismus using
    these methods eventually report pain-free
    intercourse

49
What Techniques Are Applied to Particular
Dysfunctions?
  • Dyspareunia
  • Determining the specific cause of dyspareunia is
    the first stage of treatment
  • Given that most cases are caused by physical
    problems, medical intervention may be necessary

50
What Are the Current Trends in Sex Therapy?
  • Over the past 30 years, sex therapists have moved
    beyond the approach first developed by Masters
    and Johnson
  • Therapists now treat unmarried couples, those
    with other psychological disorders, couples with
    severe marital discord, the elderly, the
    medically ill, the physically handicapped,
    clients with a homosexual orientation, and
    clients with no long-term sex partner

51
What Are the Current Trends in Sex Therapy?
  • Therapists are paying more attention to excessive
    sexuality, which is sometimes called sexual
    addiction
  • The use of medications to treat sexual
    dysfunction is troubling to many therapists
  • They are concerned that therapists will choose
    biological interventions rather than a more
    integrated approach

52
Paraphilias
  • These disorders are characterized by unusual
    fantasies and sexual urges or behaviors that are
    recurrent and sexually arousing
  • Often involve
  • Humiliation of self or partner
  • Children
  • Nonconsenting people
  • Nonhuman objects

53
Paraphilias
  • According to the DSM-IV-TR, paraphilias should be
    diagnosed only when the urges, fantasies, or
    behaviors last at least 6 months
  • For most paraphilias, the urges, fantasies, or
    behaviors must also cause great distress or
    impairment
  • For certain paraphilias, however, performance of
    the behavior itself is indicative of a disorder
  • Example sexual contact with children

54
Paraphilias
  • Some people with one kind of paraphilia display
    others as well
  • Relatively few people receive a formal diagnosis,
    but clinicians believe that the patterns may be
    quite common
  • Although theorists have proposed various
    explanations for paraphilias, there is little
    formal evidence to support the theories
  • None of the treatments applied to paraphilias
    have received much research or been proved
    clearly effective
  • Recent work has focused on biological
    interventions

55
Fetishism
  • The key features of fetishism are recurrent
    intense sexual urges, sexually arousing
    fantasies, or behaviors that involve the use of a
    nonliving object
  • The disorder usually begins in adolescence
  • Almost anything can be a fetish
  • Womens underwear, shoes, and boots are
    especially common

56
Fetishism
  • Researchers have been unable to pinpoint the
    causes of fetishism
  • Psychodynamic theorists view fetishes as defense
    mechanisms, but therapy using this model has been
    unsuccessful

57
Fetishism
  • Behaviorists propose that fetishes are learned
    through classical conditioning
  • Fetishes are sometimes treated with aversion
    therapy, covert sensitization, or imaginal
    exposure
  • Another behavioral treatment is masturbatory
    satiation, in which clients masturbate to boredom
    while imagining the fetish object
  • An additional behavioral treatment is orgasmic
    reorientation, a process which teaches
    individuals to respond to more appropriate
    sources of sexual stimulation

58
Transvestic Fetishism
  • Also known as transvestism or cross-dressing
  • Characterized by fantasies, urges, or behaviors
    involving dressing in the clothes of the opposite
    sex in order to achieve sexual arousal

59
Transvestic Fetishism
  • The typical person with transvestism is a
    heterosexual male who began cross-dressing in
    childhood or adolescence
  • Transvestism is often confused with gender
    identity disorder (transsexualism), but the two
    are separate patterns
  • The development of the disorder seems to follow
    the behavioral principles of operant conditioning

60
Exhibitionism
  • Characterized by arousal from the exposure of
    genitals in a public setting
  • Also known as flashing
  • Sexual contact is neither initiated nor desired
  • Usually begins before age 18 and is most common
    in males
  • Treatment generally includes aversion therapy and
    masturbatory satiation
  • May be combined with orgasmic reorientation,
    social skills training, or psychodynamic therapy

61
Voyeurism
  • Characterized by repeated and intense sexual
    desires to observe people in secret as they
    undress or to spy on couples having intercourse
    may involve acting upon these desires
  • The person may masturbate during the act of
    observing or while remembering it later
  • The risk of discovery often adds to the excitement

62
Voyeurism
  • Many psychodynamic theorists propose that voyeurs
    are seeking power
  • Others have explained it as an attempt to reduce
    fears of castration
  • Behaviorists explain voyeurism as a learned
    behavior that can be traced to a chance and
    secret observation of a sexually arousing scene

63
Frotteurism
  • A person who develops frotteurism has fantasies,
    urges, or behaviors involving touching and
    rubbing against a nonconsenting person
  • Almost always male, the person fantasizes during
    the act that he is having a caring relationship
    with the victim
  • Usually begins in the teenage years or earlier
  • Acts generally decrease and disappear after age 25

64
Pedophilia
  • Characterized by fantasies, urges, or behaviors
    involving sexual activity with a prepubescent
    child, usually 13 years of age or younger
  • Some people are satisfied with child pornography
  • Others are driven to watching, fondling, or
    engaging in intercourse with children
  • Evidence suggests that two-thirds of victims are
    female

65
Pedophilia
  • People with pedophilia develop the disorder in
    adolescence
  • Some were sexually abused as children
  • Many were neglected, excessively punished, or
    deprived of close relationships in childhood
  • Most are immature, display faulty thinking, and
    have an additional psychological disorder
  • Some theorists have proposed a related
    biochemical or brain structure abnormality

66
Pedophilia
  • Most people with pedophilia are imprisoned or
    forced into treatment
  • Treatments include aversion therapy, masturbatory
    satiation, and orgasmic reorientation
  • Cognitive-behavioral treatment involves
    relapse-prevention training, modeled after
    programs used for substance dependence

67
Sexual Masochism
  • Characterized by fantasies, urges, or behaviors
    involving the act or the thought of being
    humiliated, beaten, bound, or otherwise made to
    suffer
  • Most masochistic fantasies begin in childhood and
    seem to develop through the behavioral process of
    classical conditioning

68
Sexual Sadism
  • A person with sexual sadism finds fantasies,
    urges, or behaviors involving the thought or act
    of psychological or physical suffering of a
    victim sexually exciting
  • Named for the infamous Marquis de Sade
  • People with sexual sadism imagine that they have
    total control over a sexual victim

69
Sexual Sadism
  • Sadistic fantasies may first appear in childhood

  • Pattern is long-term
  • Appears to be related to classical conditioning
    and/or modeling
  • Psychodynamic and cognitive theorists view people
    with sexual sadism as having underlying feelings
    of sexual inadequacy

70
Sexual Sadism
  • Biological studies have found possible
    abnormalities in the endocrine system
  • The primary treatment for this disorder is
    aversion therapy

71
A Word of Caution
  • The definitions of paraphilias, like those of
    sexual dysfunctions, are strongly influenced by
    the norms of the particular society in which they
    occur
  • Some clinicians argue that, except when people
    are hurt by them, paraphilic behaviors should not
    be considered disorders at all

72
Gender Identity Disorder
  • Gender identity disorder, or transsexualism, is
    one of the most fascinating disorders related to
    sexuality
  • People with this disorder persistently feel that
    they have been assigned to the wrong biological
    sex
  • They would like to remove their primary and
    secondary sex characteristics and acquire the
    characteristics of the opposite sex

73
Gender Identity Disorder
  • Men with gender identity disorder outnumber women
    2 to 1
  • People with gender identity disorder often
    experience anxiety or depression and may have
    thoughts of suicide

74
Gender Identity Disorder
  • People with gender identity disorder usually feel
    uncomfortable wearing the clothes of their own
    sex and may cross-dress
  • This is distinctly different from a transsexual
    fetish there is no sexual arousal related to
    this disorder
  • The disorder sometimes emerges in childhood and
    disappears with adolescence
  • In some cases it develops into adult gender
    identity disorder

75
Gender Identity Disorder
  • Several theories have been proposed to explain
    this disorder, but research is limited and
    generally weak
  • Some clinicians suspect biological perhaps
    genetic - factors
  • Abnormalities in the hypothalamus (particularly
    the bed nucleus of stria terminalis) are a
    potential link
  • Some adults with this disorder change their
    sexual characteristics by way of hormones others
    opt for sexual reassignment (sex change) surgery
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