Obsessive-compulsive disorder involves unwanted thoughts or images that are unsettling or interfere with an individual's life, followed by actions that temporarily relieve the anxiety caused by the obsessions.
[10] Because sex carries significant emotional, moral, and religious importance, it often becomes a magnet for obsessions in people predisposed to OCD.
She might wonder if these thoughts mean that she is a pedophile and worry that she could act them out, despite the fact that she has never sexually abused anyone and feels disgusted by the idea.
[11] Patients may also experience fears that their obsessions have already been carried out, and this causes them great mental distress and suffering.
The ignorance and misunderstanding of the general population about OCD, largely as a result of misinformation about the disorder, often leads to assumptions that sufferers are criminals or deviants.
The obsession may temporarily subside in the face of a logical argument or reassurance from others, but may spike when caught off guard by a sexual trigger.
[10] Sexual obsessions can be particularly troubling to the individual with OCD, as something important and cherished becomes twisted into its nightmarish opposite.
[14] Another form of OCD that can take hold of a person involves obsessive doubts, preoccupations, checking, and reassurance seeking behaviors focusing on intimate relationships (ROCD).
Another form of ROCD includes preoccupation, checking, and reassurance seeking behaviors relating to the partner's perceived flaws.
[10] The sexual ideation in such situations is termed ego-dystonic or ego-alien, meaning that the behavior and/or attitudes are seen by the individual as inconsistent with his or her fundamental beliefs and personality.
OCD sexual obsessions often result in guilt, shame, depression and may interfere with social functioning or work.
Approximately 40% of sufferers (number could be higher due to the embarrassment associated) also report some accompanying physiological arousal.
Mental health professionals unfamiliar with OCD may even attribute the symptoms to an unconscious wish (typically in the case of psychoanalysts or psychodynamic therapists[19]), sexual identity crisis, or hidden paraphilia.
Fortunately, sexual obsessions respond to the same type of effective treatments available for other forms of OCD: cognitive-behavioral therapy and serotonergic antidepressant medications (SSRIs).
Drugs specifically for erectile dysfunction (i.e. Viagra, Cialis) are not the answer for people with untreated OCD.