Subtypes of anorgasmia via mathematical taxonomy

Seventy-six women who presented with a principal complaint of anorgasmia were partitioned into four distinct subtypes on the basis of psychosexual and psychological symptoms using hierarchical cluster analysis, a mathematical taxonomic method. The classification was accomplished with data from the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Comparisons involving age, race, marital status, and social class demonstrated no significant differences between the four subtypes; however, statistical analyses of psychosexual, psychological symptom, and chart-review variables (including psychiatric diagnosis) revealed very significant distinctions between the four groups. From the resulting typology, anorgasmic subtypes were presumptively identified as "low desire" (n = 21), "histrionic/marital conflict" (n = 20) "psychiatric disorder" (n = 12) and "constitutional" (n = 16). Implications of the typology for etiologic and optimal treatment decisions concerning anorgasmia are discussed.