Back to Journals » Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment » Volume 16

Spotlight on Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder: A Systematic Review of Research on Women
Authors Kowalewska E, Gola M, Kraus SW, Lew-Starowicz M
Received 7 May 2020
Accepted for publication 7 August 2020
Published 4 September 2020 Volume 2020:16 Pages 2025—2043
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S221540
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single anonymous peer review
Peer reviewer comments 4
Editor who approved publication: Dr Roger Pinder
Ewelina Kowalewska,1 Mateusz Gola,2,3 Shane W Kraus,4 Michal Lew-Starowicz1
1Department of Psychiatry, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Warsaw, Poland; 2Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computations, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; 3Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; 4Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA
Correspondence: Ewelina Kowalewska Department of Psychiatry
Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, 99/103 Marymoncka St., Warsaw 01-813, Poland
Email [email protected]
Purpose of Review: World Health Organization recently included compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) to the upcoming 11th edition of International Classification of Diseases (6C72). Despite the potential benefits of this decision (eg, the acceleration of research in the field will allow the development of effective treatments), previous research focused mainly on men, and as a result, we do not have an accurate clinical picture of compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) among women. Therefore, in this systematic review, we aim to present available knowledge on this topical subject. Literature search was conducted in the guideline of PRISMA methodology. Studies were identified from multiple databases including Academic Search Ultimate, SocINDEX, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, PubMed, and MEDLINE. Out of a total of 10,531 articles identified and screened, 58 were included in this review. Included studies covered the following topics: prevalence and etiology of CSB, behavioral and cognitive processes involved, comorbidities, personality traits, psychosocial and interpersonal difficulties, traumatic experiences, and treatments.
Recent Findings: Available studies indicate that CSB symptom severity is lower in women than in men. Overall, women reported consuming pornography less often than men and exhibit lower rates of feeling urges to these materials. CSB symptoms (including problematic pornography use) have been found to be positively related to trait psychopathy, impulsivity, sensation seeking, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, obsessive-compulsive disorder, pathological buying, sexual dysfunctions, general psychopathology, child sexual abuse, while negatively related to dispositional mindfulness.
Summary: Conclusions that can be drawn from prior studies are considerably limited. There are no accurate estimates of the CSB prevalence or severity among women, and studies have been mostly conducted on non-clinical populations, which has limited application for women diagnosed with CSBD.
Keywords: compulsive sexual behavior, problematic pornography use, women
This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.
By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.