Who feels affected by "out of control" sexual behavior? Prevalence and correlates of indicators for ICD-11 Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder in the German Health and Sexuality Survey (GeSiD).
Peer Briken, Christian Wiessner, Aleksander Štulhofer, Verena Klein, Johannes Fuß, Geoffrey M Reed, Arne Dekker
Author Information
Peer Briken: 1Institute for Sex Research, Sexual Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical-Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. ORCID
Christian Wiessner: 1Institute for Sex Research, Sexual Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical-Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. ORCID
Aleksander Štulhofer: 3Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia. ORCID
Verena Klein: 1Institute for Sex Research, Sexual Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical-Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. ORCID
Johannes Fuß: 1Institute for Sex Research, Sexual Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical-Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. ORCID
Geoffrey M Reed: 5Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. ORCID
Arne Dekker: 1Institute for Sex Research, Sexual Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical-Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. ORCID
Background and aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of indicators consistent with Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD)-defined and operationalized according to the ICD-11 guidelines-in a large (n = 4,633; 50.5% male; 49,5% female) probability-based German national sample. Methods: Participants were asked if they had ever experienced "intense and recurring sexual impulses or sexual urges that I had difficulty controlling and resulted in sexual behavior" over a period of several months. Those who reported this experience were queried about the associated distress. Results: Overall, 4.9% of men [95% CI = 3.9-6.1] and 3.0% of women [95% CI = 2.3-3.9] reported experiences consistent with ICD-11 diagnostic requirements for lifetime diagnosis. In the 12 months preceding the study, 3.2% of men [95% CI = 2.4-4.2] and 1.8% of women [95% CI = 1.2-2.5] reported experiences consistent with CSBD requirements. Compared to controls and participants who reported elements of compulsive sexuality but without accompanying distress, strict religious upbringing was most prevalent in the CSBD group. The CSBD group was more likely to view sexual practices like men having sex with men as unacceptable and to report the belief that pornography has negative impacts on their sex life and life in general. Compared to the other two groups, the CSBD group was significantly more likely to have received psychiatric treatment for depression or another mental health problem during the past 12 months. Discussion and conclusions: The current study provides novel and important insights into the prevalence and characteristics of CSBD in the general population.
