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Sexual sadism.

Wolfgang Berner1, Peter Berger, Andreas Hill

  • 1Department of Sex Research, University of Hamburg, Martinistrasse 52, D 20246 Hamburg, Germany.

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
|September 16, 2003
PubMed
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Sexual sadism and sadistic personality disorder (SPD) prevalence differs by clinical setting. Forensic samples show higher SPD rates, suggesting sadism is relevant to sex-offender relapse.

Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry
  • Forensic Psychology
  • Paraphilias

Background:

  • Historical definitions of sexual sadism from ICD-10 and DSM-IV are examined.
  • Clinical samples show masochism is more prevalent in general psychiatric facilities, while sadism is more common in forensic settings.
  • This distribution supports the concept of distinct sadism and masochism diagnoses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the prevalence and implications of sexual sadism and sadistic personality disorder (SPD).
  • To investigate the relationship between sadism, SPD, and sex-offender relapse rates.
  • To explore a dimensional concept of sexual sadism and its contributing factors.

Main Methods:

  • Review of diagnostic criteria (ICD-10, DSM-IV, DSM-III-R).
  • Analysis of clinical and forensic sample data on sexual sadism and SPD prevalence.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Follow-up study on a forensic sample to assess sadism's relevance to sex-offender relapse.

    • Main Results:

    • Sadistic personality disorder (SPD) is significantly more prevalent in forensic settings (50-fold higher) compared to other clinical samples.
    • Sexual sadism as a paraphilia appears relevant to relapse rates in sex-offenders.
    • SPD symptoms can occur independently of or in conjunction with sexual sadism, suggesting a dimensional model.

    Conclusions:

    • The distinct prevalence of sadism and masochism in different clinical settings supports their separation as diagnoses.
    • Sadistic traits may generalize, with SPD symptoms indicating this in some individuals.
    • A two-factor model for sadistic pleasure is proposed, involving bodily gratification and hostile object representation (anger/rage).