Proposal to Introduce Adjustment Disorder With Disturbed Sexual Functioning Into the Revised Classifications of DSM and ICD

Abstract

This article presents a proposal for a new diagnostic concept of adjustment disorder with disturbed sexual functioning. This concept would allow one to confer a diagnosis on sexual dysfunctions in response to an identifiable stressor within 1 or 3 months. The disturbance would have to be clinically significant as evidenced by either distress in excess of what one would expect from the exposure, or by significant impairment in social, occupational or interpersonal functioning. The disturbance would not meet the criteria for another axis I disorder and would not be merely an exacerbation of a pre-existing axis I disorder. Finally, the disturbance should not persist for more than an additional 6 months once the stressor or its consequences have terminated.