Hypersexuality

Hypersexuality is a term used for a presumed mental disorder that causes unwanted or excessive sexual arousal, causing people to engage in or think about sexual activity to a point of distress or impairment.^[1] It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis^[1][2] used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the condition in women and men, respectively.

Hypersexuality may be a primary condition, or the symptom of other medical conditions or disorders such as Klüver–Bucy syndrome and bipolar disorder. Hypersexuality may also present as a side effect of medication such as dopaminergic drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease.^[3][4] Frontal lesions caused by brain injury, strokes, and frontal lobotomy are thought to cause hypersexuality in individuals who have had these conditions.^[5] Clinicians have yet to reach a consensus over how best to describe hypersexuality as a primary condition,^[6][7][8] or to determine the appropriateness of describing such behaviors and impulses as a separate pathology.

Hypersexual behaviors are viewed variously by clinicians and therapists as a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or "OCD-spectrum disorder", an addiction,^[9][10][11] or a disorder of impulsivity. A number of authors do not acknowledge such a pathology^[12] and instead assert that the condition merely reflects a cultural dislike of exceptional sexual behavior.^[13][14]

Consistent with there not being any consensus over what causes hypersexuality,^[15] authors have used many different labels to refer to it, sometimes interchangeably, but often depending on which theory they favor or which specific behavior they have studied or have done research on; related or obsolete terms include compulsive masturbation, compulsive sexual behavior,^[16][17] cybersex addiction, erotomania, "excessive sexual drive",^[18] hyperphilia,^[19] hypersexuality,^[20][21] hypersexual disorder,^[22] problematic hypersexuality,^[23] sexual addiction, sexual compulsivity,^[24] sexual dependency,^[14] sexual impulsivity,^[25] "out of control sexual behavior",^[26] and paraphilia-related disorder.^[27][28][29]

Due to the controversy surrounding the diagnosis of hypersexuality, there is not one generally accepted definition and measurement for hypersexuality, making it difficult to truly determine the prevalence. Thus, the prevalence can vary depending on how it is defined and measured. Overall, hypersexuality is estimated to affect 2–6% of the population, and may be higher in certain populations like men, traumatized, and sex offenders.^[30][31][32]