Individuals Across Cultures Are Diagnosed With All

Individuals across cultures are diagnosed with all different types of sexual disorders. A sexual disorder is classified as a disorder that involves sexual functioning, desires, or performance (Mosby 2009). These disorders have a huge affect on people because they can affect their own personal social lives. There are many sexual disorders and dysfunctions that individuals suffer from. Along with these disorders, there are many different factors and many treatments that have been used to help these individuals. A man by the name of Robert Kelly has a particular sexual disorder in which he has reoccurring sexual fantasies that usually involve a nonliving object. It is no surprise that he suffers from this disorder because both his parents are diagnosed with it. Coming from a low income background where the family is living from paycheck to paycheck, treatment has not been given to Mr. Kelly due to low income. Since he doesn't receive treatment for his condition, he has a hard time coping with it. This disorder has a connection with sex and sexual gratification. An individual is diagnosed with this disorder when they act on these urges, are distressed by them, or must have the object to receive gratification ("Fetishism," 2010).

The demographics for this disorder in the world or United States is not known because these patients are not counted or tracked unless in rare instances where the patient has a desire to be counted. As for Mr. Kelly, it is no coincidence that he has this disorder because it is usually more popular with males than females. There is also no information on whether genetics has any effect on the disorder (Fallon, 2005).

This disorder closely meets the criteria for the axes of the DSM. This disorder falls under the sexual and gender identity disorders. According to the DSM (2000), there are three main points of criteria that fall under the sexual disorder. The first is over a period of six months an individual must have reoccurring intense sexually arousing fantasies involving a nonliving object. Also, the fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors cause distress or impairment in important areas of the individual's life. To add, the fetish objects are not limited to articles of female clothing used for cross-dressing or to devices designed for tactile genital stimulation.

The factors that cause this disorder are not clearly understood at this point, and require further research to be done. Some psychologists believe that the disorder is caused by an early childhood object that was closely associated to sexual arousal or pleasure. Another factor that psychologists believe had an effect on this disorder is an object that is closely associated with masturbation in the early adolescent stage of life. Researchers have found some common ground between many individuals that suffer from this sexual disorder. Individuals usually have poor social skills, are usually isolated, and haven't yet gained much experience with intimacy ("Sexual-," 2005).

There are few treatments discovered for the disorder at this point. The earliest treatment discovered was behavior therapy, where the patient received shocks when they saw the object that they had a fetish for. This treatment was not successful for patients. Another treatment that is used is orgasmic reorientation. This treatment attempted to help the patient sexually respond to objects considered socially acceptable stimuli; however this treatment is not very successful. Most individuals that have this sexual disorder do not usually seek treatment and can obtain sexual gratification when appropriate. American society has become more accepting to people that suffer from it ("Fetishism," 2010).

The prognosis is very unfortunate due to the success rate of current treatments. Most people that are diagnosed with the disorder are usually not willing to change their behaviors. There are however, some individuals who strive to change usually in attempt to save a marriage. Most of the fetishes that exist do not harm others and usually do not involve their sexual partners. The prognosis for a patient is usually positive when the individual does not harm another patient or another person (Fallon, 2003).