All patients presenting with hypersexuality require careful assessment and evaluation, including clinical examination. We have seen hypersexuality in women as a presenting symptom of an androgen-secreting ovarian tumor, a spinal tumor, and…

The presentations of clients with drive/desire disorders are divisible into those with primary and those with secondary problems. Primary desire disorders represent a significant challenge to psychological approaches, given that patients with…

Secondary hypoactive sexual desire has the advantage of comparison, in that the patient is able to contrast current levels of libido with those enjoyed at some previous time and may well have a…

It is essential at the outset of the assessment process to define exactly what a patient means by his or her complaint of low or absent sexual desire. The process includes ascertaining…

Over the past 15 years, sex therapists have increasingly come to recognize and acknowledge the diversity of etiological factors implicated in sexual desire disorders. As a result, current psychological treatment approaches…

In patients whose hypoactive sexual desire disorder is global, deficiency of sexual drive should be considered early in the assessment process, because an easily treatable condition, such as reduced serum testosterone,…

The etiology of hypoactive sexual desire disorder is multifactorial and complex, involving neuroendocrine, psychological, and behavioral factors. It is, however, poorly understood, giving rise to the sense of “bafflement” alluded to by…

Hypoactive sexual desire disorder may exist as an isolated sexual problem, with the presenting person being able to experience sexual arousal and orgasm. However, it is not uncommon…

Despite marked inconsistencies in the research, clinical as well as social observation suggests that there are differences in the felt experience of sexual desire between men and women. On the whole,…

The U.S. national probability sample of 1,749 women and 1,410 men aged 18-59 years provides useful prevalence data for sexual dysfunction, including hypoactive sexual desire (“lacked interest in sex”). Among women, the…

Sexual Desire Disorders Introduction

Of all sexual symptoms, disorders of sexual desire are probably the most difficult to manage, and yet…

Sexual desire and the loss of it take many different and distinct forms. It is potentially influenced by a myriad of physiological, psychological, and psychosocial factors, all of which may, in turn,…