Classification of Sexual Disorders

Abstract

Sexual disorders have been classified in different ways by various authors, and in this paper we compare the latest versions of the two main classificatory systems used around the world, International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV). While there are differences between them, there are in general more similarities, and they share many of the same problems. Paramount among these are the lack of any clear demarcation between normal and abnormal; and the fact that even a careful application of a well-thought-out system may be of limited clinical value, as it tends to obscure therapeutically relevant individual variations.