The Relationship Between the Level of Sexual Desire Reported in the Clinical Interview and Sexual Development...

This study aimed to understand the significance of reported sexual desire levels during clinical interviews. We investigated the relationship between sexual desire, sexual developmental characteristics, and scale results, and the predictive effect of adequate sexual desire on clinical diagnoses.

The medical records of patients who consecutively applied to a Specialized Sexual Dysfunctions (SD) clinic were screened for reported sexual desire. We compared 101 patients who reported adequate sexual desire with 94 patients who reported inadequate desire with an interview. The groups were compared based on their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, sexual behaviors and the Golombok-Rust Sexual Satisfaction Scale (GRISS).

When the group with adequate sexual desire was compared with the group with inadequate sexual desire, significant differences were found between the two groups. The group with inadequate sexual desire was more likely to have had an arranged marriage, to have no source of sexual information, to view masturbation as natural to a lesser extent and as a sin to a greater extent, to have less frequent marital intercourse, to have higher rates of negative experiences related to sexuality, to have higher rates of negative changes in sexual life after having children, to have higher rates of comorbid SD, and to have higher GRISS frequency, satisfaction, avoidance, touching, anorgasmia subscale and total scores. The source of sexual information and negative experience about sexuality predicted a decrease in sexual desire. Those with reduced sexual desire were diagnosed with an SD 8.5 times more often than those with adequate sexual desire.

Our findings showed the importance of sexual desire adequacy reported in the clinical interview in women in evaluating women’s sexual health and functions, and the need for sexual health education.