Sexual Health and Hysteria: When concern becomes obsession

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It’s normal for you, on occasion, to go back and double-check that the door is closed or your television set is switched off: But if you suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), compulsive thoughts and behaviors become so recurrent that they interfere with your day to day life. And if the interference occurs in sexual sphere of your life, you may be suffering from what’s known as sexual OCD.

Sexual OCD is a fairly common psychological disorder, typically characterized by persistent fixations with deviant sexual thoughts, obsessive concern for sexual health, and recurring compulsions in response to the obsessions. An example includes a women’s obsessive thoughts about conceiving pregnancy, accidently, after shaking hands with  a man who has supposedly not washed his hands after touching his genitals. Or a man who’s unable to perform on bed just because he feels his partner might be infected with a virus that would turn him into a zombie sort of thing if he copulates with her.

Though the above examples are quite extreme in nature , there are some mild sexual obsessions like concern about the size, color and hygiene of genitals; obsessive fear of contracting AIDS after having intercourse; unwanted guilt-arousing sexual thoughts like rape, incest etc… to name a few. A man might get obsessed with the size of his penis, and impulsively measure his erections every now and then. He might also keep away from dating out of fear of being humiliated, and in the worst case scenario, splurge into reading  articles about penis enlargement on internet most of his time.   Similarly, a women might suddenly start to feel that her feelings towards her boyfriend is half-hearted, and that she might be a lesbian. She would then possibly start to gaze at every woman speculating if she is also attracted to someone of the same sex.

Obsessions regarding use of cosmetics to improve sexual attractiveness are fairly common—however—not everyone who uses such cosmetics can be called obsessed. I was once talking to a women on sexual health board who confessed about using anal bleach.  Anal bleaching is the process of lightening the area around the anus to do away with any dark pigmentation that might be a result of temporary bodily changes or normal genetics.  She was a cosmetologist by profession and her views about using anal bleach changed my way of thinking. “There’s nothin’ weird in that”, she said, “it’s just like using a facial cream to correct uneven skin tone and make it attractive.” It does make sense to me because I know more people are turning to anal sex than ever before…thanks to the growing popularity of anal pornography and internet. But then she added to the conversation later saying that it should not become an obsession for a women so that she’s unable to perform on bed if she hasn’t bleached her butt-hole to a baby pink hue since a long time. If the later starts to happen, she might want to talk to a therapist.

The pigmentation of anal area does not perturb everybody, but for pornographic actress—we know—it's part of their vocation to maintain an even skin tone around their privies. Just like celebrities who expend thousands of dollars to keep their skin youthful and alluring. The things which they do to survive in the entertainment industry and be admired by their fans becomes a trend and people are conditioned to accept it as a standard of beauty, and in the former case, a standard of sexual attractiveness. The conditioning takes the form of obsession in some people to such an extent that they need therapy to restore the normal functioning of life.

Penis enlargement, Anal bleaching, Cosmetic surgery , and the trend for men and women to remove their pubic hair, all manifest the sophistication of porn industry and the far-fetched hysteria which the alluring images of media have standardized. There's more apprehension than ever for women to measure up to a such a sophisticated pornographic embodiment. Resulting frustration makes way for depression, and depression in turn invites plethora of psychological disorders including OCD to obliterate normality from the life of victim.

When the obnoxious thoughts, images, and impulses keep coming into mind every now and then  such that day-to-day life suffers, therapy might be recommended.  Treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy, systematic desensitization, and hypnosis are usually put to use to reduce the symptoms and distress of OCD to a great extent. Sometimes, antidepressant medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) also provides quick relief.