Sexual Obsessions - Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder involves unwanted thoughts or images that are unsettling or interfere with an individual's life, followed by actions that temporarily relieve the anxiety caused by the obsessions (APA 2000). Obsessions are involuntary, repetitive, and unwelcome. Attempts to suppress or neutralise obsessions do not work and in fact make the obsessions more severe, as trying to make sense of obsessions only gives them more attention and "fuel". OCD is considered an anxiety disorder.

Typical obsessive themes center on contamination, illness, worries about disaster, and orderliness. However, people with OCD also obsess about violence, religious questions, and sexual experiences. Up to a quarter of people with OCD may experience sexual obsessions, and some OCD sexual obsessions have been linked to childhood sexual abuse of OCD sufferers. Repetitive sexual thoughts are seen in many disorders in addition to OCD, but these disorders bear no relation to OCD. For example, sexual thoughts unrelated to OCD are common to people with paraphilias, post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual dysfunction, sexual addiction and as part of the normal fantasy life of the general population. The recurrent sexual thoughts and feelings in these situations are sometimes referred to as sexual obsessions. However, their content, form, and meaning vary depending on the disorder, with OCD sexual obsessions being not only involuntary but also unwanted, and causing great mental distress and suffering for the OCD patient.