“It leaves you powerless without control”
When sexomania is mentioned, a concept such as "sex addiction" may come to the minds of individuals, so to speak, as it is used among the public. However, sexomania is a psychological and neurological disorder. In a more understandable language, sexomania means "sleep sex disease". Although it used to be a phenomenon, today it is considered a very serious sleep disorder problem. To categorize it further, sexomania is a disorder within the scope of “parasomnia”. Parasomnias are behavioral disorders that usually manifest themselves in the individual's childhood, gradually disappear during adolescence and adulthood, but can also occur in adulthood, although rarely. It is the set of abnormal states, movements and behaviors exhibited by individuals at the moment of falling asleep, during sleep or after sleep.
Just like REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and sleepwalking, sexomania has extremely serious consequences. It is a possible disorder. The sexomaniac individual wakes up from his sleep with an intense sexual urge and forces his partner to have sexual intercourse, without questioning whether he is willing or unwilling, and initiates sex. Just like in sleepwalking disorder, individuals cannot remember the actions they performed during sexomania. Actions may not always result in the sexomaniac forcing his partner into sex; It may also result in masturbation or caressing, touching and similar sexual gratifications. Awakenings with symptoms of sleepwalking and sexomania are known as “confusional wakefulness” and are not considered “fully awake.” Following confusional wakefulness, the individual falls asleep again after a while. However, during these awakenings, the individual may cause serious harm to himself, his environment, or those around him.
What are the Symptoms of Sexomania?
Of course, the individual should be diagnosed as a sexomaniac by professionals. If the individual has any doubts about this issue, he/she may experience symptoms of sexomania such as having frequent sexual dreams, experiencing ejaculation or erection during sleep, not being satisfied with the sexual experience during a normal day, and similar factors. He should observe whether he contains these or not. During sexomaniac confusional wakefulness, control is not in the hands of the sexomaniac individual, in this respect it is similar to the "sleepwalking" problem. In addition to forcing his partner to have sex with an uncontrollable, intense sexual urge and desire, the sexomaniac individual exhibits fantasies that he does not practice in a normal sexual experience, behaviors that he does not realize, and caresses, screams, makes orgasmic sounds, swears, physically or sexually assaults his partner or himself. It shows symptoms such as moral violence, moaning, shouting and insatiability. The individual does not remember what happened during his confusional awakening, and after such an awakening, he starts the next day extremely tired and experiences perception problems.
Is Sexomania Common and Dangerous?
Of course, sexomania, which is a parasomnic disorder, can be dangerous for both the patient and his/her environment. Sexomaniac behaviors exhibited during confusional awakening occur as a result of the disease, as stated, and are not the individual's own choice, they occur out of control. For this reason, it can cause physical and emotional damage. Clear information about the prevalence of sexomania parasomnia was not available until recent years. The reasons for this were that the patient or his/her partner was ashamed of what happened and could not share it clearly. However, today, especially in line with research based in Canada, it has been revealed that sexomania parasomnia is much more common than thought. Sleeping sex disease is mostly observed in men.
How is Sexomania Treated?
It is very important to diagnose sexomania before treatment. If such a disease is suspected, the best course of action is to apply to a sleep center with neurologists. One of the most solution-oriented methods will be to perform tests called electroencephalography (EEG) and polysomnography (PSG) simultaneously and monitor the sleep of the individual suspected of having the disease throughout the night. Although sleep sex disease is a neurological disorder within the framework of confusional awakenings, that is, "parasomnias", Even though the connection between neurology and psychology should not be underestimated. Therefore, it will definitely be beneficial to get professional psychological and psychiatric help in the treatment of the disease. It is also very important for the patient and his/her partner to share the experiences and symptoms without shame or embarrassment in order to speed up the treatment process and start the healing process. In order to minimize the psychological damage that may occur during these sharings and to speed up the healing process, it should be considered a must to seek professional psychological help.
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