Contents
Nymphomania is a term used to describe an unofficial mental disorder specific to women, including compulsive sexual behavior, hypersexuality, and sex addiction in women. The specific men's term for the same condition is satiriasis (exaggerated sexual desire in a man, where the symptoms are a compulsion to have sex with as many women as possible and an inability to have long-lasting relationships with them).
Using the term "nymphomaniac" has a negative connotation historically linked to attempts to control female sexual desire and the role of women in society. In modern times, people still sometimes use this term to describe a woman's more or less uncontrolled urges towards sex..
This disorder is characterized by compulsive sexual behavior. Compulsions are unwanted actions or rituals, in which a person participates repeatedly without deriving pleasure from them or being able to control them. In the case of nymphomania, compulsions refer to participation in risky behaviors such as promiscuity. Whether or not nymphomania is a true mental illness is often debated in the medical community, but evidence suggests that compulsive sexual behavior is a real and serious illness..
Nymphomania can appear at any age, although it is believed to begin during early adulthood and is more common in homosexual men and women. In addition to compulsive sexual behavior, nymphomania can include thinking problems, repetitive unwanted thoughts (obsession), and feelings of guilt, shame, or inadequacy..
The underlying cause of nymphomania is not known. Nymphomania is a mental and emotional condition, and, as with many other personality tendencies or dysfunctions, recognizing the reasons is very difficult. For this reason, nymphomania can arise as a result of environmental events or be part of a hereditary or congenital tendency. It can also be related to a chemical imbalance in the brain.
Compulsive sexual behavior appears when there are thoughts or feelings that interfere with the normal ability to maintain relationships, a more or less stable job, and be physically or mentally balanced. For some people, sexual behaviors represent the center of all their desires and concerns, almost completely forgetting all other activities. In some cases they even develop behaviors, actions or thoughts that violate social norms or laws. Generally, a man or woman with compulsive sexual behavior just tries to pursue their sexual goals, regardless of the serious or potentially serious negative consequences that can alter their life.
Even mental health professionals have a hard time separating healthy sexual behaviors from those that go too far and endanger their health. For this reason, compulsive sexual behavior has not been officially defined as a real disorder..
From what has been proven, both men and women tend to develop compulsive sexual behavior as a coping strategy for stress or severe anxiety, not as a response to a genuine continued sexual desire. Other implicated factors that can potentially contribute to the development of the disorder include: altered levels of brain chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin; altered levels of sex hormones in the body called androgens; and the presence of a medical illness such as Huntington's disease. Also, some people develop the disease from certain treatments for Parkinson's disease. Eventually, brain chemical disturbances associated with hypersexuality can lead to long-term changes in normal brain function. In turn, these changes can lead to a clinic addiction that resembles other types of behavioral addictions, such as gambling or shopping addictions..
Signs and symptoms of hypersexuality include the presence of sexual urges that cannot be controlled, participation in sexual activities that do not bring any real pleasure, and the difficulty in initiating or maintaining an emotional closeness with another person, whether whether or not you are in a stable relationship.
Other potential signs or symptoms include using sexual intercourse to avoid unpleasant emotional states and continued participation in sexual situations that expose you to sexually transmitted diseases, job loss, legal consequences, or long-term loss of relationships. Illegal activities related to compulsive sexuality may include pedophilia, exhibitionism, and voyeurism.
Treatments for both women and men with compulsive sexual behavior include psychotherapy, participation in self-help groups, and the use of certain anxiolytic or antipsychotic medications, similar to medications used for other compulsive disorders. The most effective types of psychotherapy are usually group therapy, family therapy, couples therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy (which emphasizes increased self-awareness), and cognitive-behavioral therapy (which is based on learning of new behaviors in stressful situations).
Because compulsive sexual behavior is risky, people with nymphomania have a higher risk of developing sexually transmitted diseases of all kinds, so it is something to consider within treatment.
Yet No Comments