Human sexual behavior is so diverse and its interrlations with almost every life so complex that a comprehensive understanding of it is extremely difficult. No delineation of what is normal in human sexual behavior should be drawn to rigidly or
too
narrowly. The sexual behavior may be designated pathological if the behavior is compulsive, exclusive, or accompanied by much anxiety and guilt.
Paraphilias, or sexual perversions, are characterized by specialized sexual fantasiesand intense sexual urges and practices which are usually repetitive in nature and distression to the person. The special fantasy, with its unconscious and
conscious
components, is the pathognomonic element, sexual arousal and orgasm being associated phenomena. The influence of the fantasy and its behavioral manifestations extend beyond the sexual sphere to pervade the person's life. Paraphilic arousal may be
transient in some persons who act out their impulses only during periods of stress or conflict. The major categories of paraphilias included are pedophilia, exhibitionism, sexual sadism, sexual masochism, voyerism, fetishism, transvestism.
fortteurism,
and a separate category for other paraphilias, for example, zoophilia, and necrophilia.
However, the homosexuality is not a paraphilia but a sexual orientation distress. Now it is needed that the clinical recognize that the persons with an exclusive or predominant preference for same-sex sex partners are not considered to have a
mental
disorder on their sexual orientation alone.
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