Synonyms
Aberrant sexual practice; Abnormal sexual activity; Algolagnia; Exhibitionism; Fetishism; Pedophilia; Voyeurism; Zoophilia
Definition
The term paraphilia refers to any sexual interest greater than or equal to normophilic sexual interests. Paraphilias primarily concern an individual’s sexual activities (e.g., sadomasochistic practices or nonconsensual sexual activity) or an individual’s sexual targets (e.g., interest in nonhuman animals, phenotypically abnormal or physically immature humans, or inanimate objects). Paraphilias and paraphilic disorders are not synonymous. To rise to the level of a paraphilic disorder, the paraphilic interest must be associated with distress or impaired functioning for the individual, or the act of satisfying the paraphilia must result in harm to self or others.
Categorization
Paraphilic Disorders encompass a group of mental illnesses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association 2013...
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American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Balon, R. (Ed.). (2016). Practical guide to paraphilia and paraphilic disorders. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Khan, C. T., Collins, T. C., & Roberts, L. W. (2016). Ethics and the therapeutic relationship in the care of people living with paraphilic disorders. In Practical guide to paraphilia and paraphilic disorders (pp. 223–242). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
McManus, M., Hargreaves, P., Rainbow, L., & Alison, L. (2013). Paraphilias: Definition, diagnosis and treatment. F1000Prime Reports, 5, 36. https://doi.org/10.12703/P5-36.
Moser, C. (2016). DSM-5 and the paraphilic disorders: Conceptual issues. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(8), 2181–2186.
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Agyemang, A.A. (2018). Paraphilic Disorders. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9207
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9207
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