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Sexual dysfunction: Overdiagnosed or undertreated?
Date: December 3, 2015
Source: Taylor & Francis
Summary: The difference between mild sexual difficulties and clinically diagnosable sexual dysfunction
is not a new source of debate among health professionals, but it has been stirred up
recently by changes to official diagnostic criteria. A new study estimates the likely impact of
these morbidity criteria on the prevalence of sexual dysfunction.
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FULL STORY
The difference between mild sexual difficulties and clinically diagnosable sexual dysfunction is
not a new source of debate among health professionals, but it has been stirred up recently by
changes to official diagnostic criteria. The first study to estimate the likely impact of these
morbidity criteria on the prevalence of sexual dysfunction is now available as an Open Access
article from the Journal of Sex Research, the official journal of The Society for the Scientific
Study of Sexuality and a publication from Routledge.
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM5) requires symptoms
lasting at least 6 months, occurring almost always or always in sexual encounters, and causing clinically
significant distress in order to diagnose a patient with sexual dysfunction. Some fear that these criteria will
exclude individuals with sexual dysfunction from treatment, while proponents feel that this narrower
approach is an essential refinement of the DSM that will protect people with transient and mild difficulties
from being labeled as sick. This disparity among professionals highlights the importance of research into
the impact of new diagnostic standards.
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To predict the impact of the DSM5's take on sexual dysfunction, researchers analyzed data from sexually
active respondents to Britain's Third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal3). 11,509
male and female participants aged 16 to 74, reporting at least one sexual partner in the past year,
responded to questions about sexual function problems. Among sexually active men, the prevalence of
reporting one or more of four specific sexual problems was 38.2%, but only 4.2% met the DSM5
duration, severity, and distress criteria. Corresponding figures for women reporting one or more of three
specific sexual problems, were 22.8% and 3.6%. The drop in prevalence after applying morbidity criteria
is dramatic, but still suggests huge numbers of people affected around 1.8 million in the UK and 8.9
million in the U.S. The fact that only just over a third of men and women reporting a problem meeting all
three criteria had sought professional help in the last year, suggests that a huge number of people
experiencing dysfunction are not receiving help around 1.2 million in the UK and 5.8 million in the U.S.
Overall, this study helps demonstrate how the DSM5 diagnostic criteria impose a focus on clinically
significant symptoms, posing promising applications in both clinical and research contexts.
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Taylor & Francis. Note: Materials may be edited
for content and length.
Journal Reference:
1. Kirstin R. Mitchell, Kyle G. Jones, Kaye Wellings, Anne M. Johnson, Cynthia A. Graham, Jessica
Datta, Andrew J. Copas, John Bancroft, Pam Sonnenberg, Wendy Macdowall, Nigel Field, Catherine
H. Mercer. Estimating the Prevalence of Sexual Function Problems: The Impact of Morbidity
Criteria. The Journal of Sex Research, 2015; DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2015.1089214
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