Sexual compulsion from a phenomenological perspective

a case report

Abstract

Despite being historically described, the diagnosis of ''Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder'' was little considered in the main psychiatric diagnostic manuals until the formulation of the 11th International Classification of Diseases, valid in 2022. The present study seeks, through the exposition of a clinical case followed by analysis from the perspective of Structural Phenomenological Psychopathology, to bring elements that enrich and contribute to the nosographic diagnostic definition. For this purpose, the case study utilizes the main conditions of possibility of existence considered throughout the phenomenological tradition: temporality, spatiality, corporeality, and intersubjectivity, in addition to considerations about sexuality as an access point to being. This analysis allows the attribution of an essence characterized by the predominance of a partial apprehension under a totality, preventing living different experiences and an adequate maturation process. Through the phenomenological method, one can effectively determine an adequate diagnosis and therapeutic proposal, beyond the consensually established diagnostic criteria.