Transvestic fethishism - Research Proposal Example

osis, the nosology for sexual disorders is essentially identical to that of the third edition (DSM–III;American Psychiatric Association, 1980) and the revised third edition (DSM–III–R;American Psychiatric Association, 1989) and is based on Kaplans (1977) triphasic model of the sexual response cycle (desire, excitement, orgasm). Kaplan (1979) has speculated that each phase of sexual response is mediated by separate neuroanatomical pathways, although empirical support for this hypothesis is lacking.

Clinically, it has been established that individuals frequently present with comorbidity or multiple sexual dysfunction diagnoses. For example, one recent study of 588 male and female patients with a primary diagnosis of HSDD found that 41% of the female patients and 47% of the male patients had at least one other sexual dysfunction diagnosis (K.B. Segraves & R.T. Segraves, 1991). Additionally, 18% of the female patients in that study had diagnoses in all three categories of sexual desire, arousal, and orgasmic dysfunction.

DSM–IV includes subtyping of the sexual disorders as lifelong or acquired, generalized or situational, and caused by psychological or medical factors. Unfortunately, little information is available regarding the prevalence or incidence of diagnostic subtypes or the relationship to treatment outcome. Emphasis has been added in the current system on the role of psychological distress and interpersonal difficulty in the definition of sexual dysfunction, although the criteria remain subjective and relatively arbitrary in most instances.

As noted by Wincze and Carey (1991), there are no available studies of the reliability or validity of the DSM–III–R (American Psychiatric Association, 1989) or DSM–IV diagnostic system for sexual disorders. Wincze and Carey also pointed out that the current system is based on a dichotomous view of sexual health as either functional or dysfunctional, whereas sexual functioning might better be represented on a