[Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder Treated with Duloxetine: A Case Report]

Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder is characterized with unwanted, uncontrollable and persistent genital arousal symptoms that occur spontaneously in the absence of simultaneous sexual fantasy, sexual desire or sexual stimulation. The condition may last for hours or days. Patients often find it difficult to share this condition with their health care providers because they are afraid of being diagnosed with hypersexuality and they often get different psychiatric diagnoses such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Therefore, little is known about the real prevalence, pathophysiology or etiology of Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder. In addition, since there is no study conducted in this field, our information in this area is limited to case reports. Although there is no consensus about the treatment of Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder in the psychiatric literature, there are some case reports about the use of pregabaline, clomipramine, duloxetine, clonazepam, varenicline, olanzapine, risperidone in addition to the case reports on treatment with hypnotherapy, pelvic floor physiotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In this case report, we aimed to present the detailed description of a successful treatment procedure with duloxetine in a forty two years old female patient diagnosed with Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder. She had been using various antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics and mood stabilizers for sixteen years with different psychiatric misdiagnoses like Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder and yet, had not shared her symptoms of genital arousal with any psychiatrist previously.