Syeda Farah Batool 59 Annals of Psychophysiology Volume 4, July 2017 ©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre www.aeirc-edu.com ISSN 2412 - 3188 Original Article Prevalence of Compulsive Sexual Behavior/Hyper Sexuality Disorder and Its Psychological Manifestations in Youth Syeda Farah Batool & Sadaf Ahmed Psychophysiology Research Lab, Department of Physiology, University of Karachi. Corresponding Author: emanraza14@gmail.com Abstract Sexuality or sexual behaviors are very complex to understand and what better place to understand. “SEX” is a NO word in our families and society, however this a natural phenomenon in which male and female genes combine to form off springs. Every person on this planet have felt or experienced sexual desire or got engage in sexual activities. Many parts of the brain are involved in generating a cascade of sexual events within the body but Limbic System plays a primary role in the initiation of sexual drive/ desire. When a person gets attracted towards someone these parts of the brain become active and induce sexual desire, this is a normal body response, but sometimes these parts become hyperactive and sexual desire is uncontrollable such condition is termed as “Hyper sexuality”. In Pakistan, live-in relationships are not very common, so mostly unmarried individuals are involved in sex addiction. This study revolves around the increasing rate of compulsive sexual behavior in youth. A random survey has been conducted with approximately equal number of male and female participants. Subjects belong to the age group from 16-25 years. Almost 200 subjects have participated in this study. Exclusion criteria was above 25 years and below 16 years. People with any other neurological or psychological disorders were excluded. Approximately a 70% of the subjects were found to be on the track of getting hyper sexuality disorder and 15% of them were suffering from this disorder. This is the high time to break the barriers. We need to start thinking and try to discuss and resolve our issues on our own. So, think and talk. Keywords Sexual Behavior, Hyper sexuality, Sex Addiction, Orgasm, Masturbation Compulsive Sexual Behavior/Hyper sexuality disorder/Sex Addiction Is it a Myth or Reality? “A 12-year-old girl is being gang raped in a small district of Pakistan”. This and many more incidents like these are happening around every single day, what is the core reason behind the increasing rate of sexual intolerance in Pakistan? “SEX” is a NO word in our families and society, however this a Natural phenomenon in which male and female genes combine to form off springs. Every person on this planet have felt or experienced sexual desire or got engage in sexual activities. Sexuality or sexual behaviors are very complex to understand and what better place to understand this complexity of thoughts than human “Brain” (Zimmer, Carl et al., 2009). The sex cycle in a human could be classified in four phases as follow . http://www.aeirc-edu.com/ Syeda Farah Batool 60 Annals of Psychophysiology Volume 4, July 2017 ©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre www.aeirc-edu.com ISSN 2412 - 3188 Table 1.1 (Keith A. et al., 2008). Desire Resolution Arousal Orgasm Before we go in depth of neuroscience of sexual behaviors one must be aware of certain terminologies like sex desire, which is a behavioral drive that motivates an individual to have sex. Whereas sexual arousal is a cascade of physiological process that prepares the body for sexual activity (Pfaus J et al., 2006). Many parts of the brain are involved in generating a cascade of sexual events within the body but Limbic System plays a primary role in the initiation of sexual drive/ desire. Limbic system is responsible for inducing euphoria in the body and avoid pain of aversive stimuli and stress (Kristian Adams et al., 2011). Sympathetic and Parasympathetic nervous system are also involved in sexual arousal especially in orgasm. Sympathetic nervous system prepares our body for fight or flight response creating a slight stress within the body (Reid RC. et al., 2009). When a person gets attracted towards someone these parts of the brain become active and induce sexual desire, this is a normal body response, but sometimes these parts become hyperactive and sexual desire is uncontrollable such condition is termed as “Hyper sexuality” (Christopher Lane et al., 2012). It is very difficult to characterize this condition because one cannot estimate that how many times a person should have SEX. Bill Maher once said “A day without sex is a day wasted”. This should be classified as a psychological disorder; however, American Psychiatric association has refused to accept this as a psychological disorder. But in 2010, American Psychiatric Association has setup criteria for the diagnosis of Sex Addiction. This includes several signs and symptoms, a few of them are as follow.  Masturbation  Obsession with sex  Phone sex  Frequent viewing of pornography  Multiple sex partner  Emotional detachment with sex partner  Ruining the moral values. If a person is unable to feel resolution or pleasure after sex, it will lead to the generation of stress in the body. To get over the stress and for seeking the pleasure, the person unintentionally gets involved in above mentioned scenarios. In Pakistan, live-in relationships are not very common, so mostly http://www.aeirc-edu.com/ Syeda Farah Batool 61 Annals of Psychophysiology Volume 4, July 2017 ©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre www.aeirc-edu.com ISSN 2412 - 3188 unmarried individuals are involved in sex addiction. That does not mean that married ones are not involved in such activities but the ratio is comparatively low (Anonymous). If females are into such activities the condition is known as “Nymphomania” and for males the term is “Satyriasis”. This study revolves around the increasing rate of compulsive sexual behavior in youth. Domestic, social and cultural barriers are the biggest reason that our youth is suffering from this condition and Pakistan has secured its position in top 5 countries of the world which has the highest viewership of porn sites. Methodology A random survey has been conducted with approximately equal number of male and female participants. Subjects belong to the age group from 16-25 years. Almost 200 subjects have participated in this study. Exclusion criteria was above 25 years and below 16 years. People with any other neurological or psychological disorders were excluded. Results and Discussion When the subjects were asked that have they ever visited a porn site? Following response has been recorded. . Figure 1.1 shows the number of male visiting porn site is higher than female but a 68% female is not a number to ignore. Majority of participants have reported that they feel uncomfortable even when their cousins sit next to them. 85 68 Male Female http://www.aeirc-edu.com/ Syeda Farah Batool 62 Annals of Psychophysiology Volume 4, July 2017 ©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre www.aeirc-edu.com ISSN 2412 - 3188 Figure 1.2 showed that how emotionally weak the subjects are, which replicates the state of their minds. A huge number of subjects were surprisingly engaged in activities like phone, sex and masturbation. Figure 1.3 shows that most of the subjects thought that stress is the basic cause of these sensations. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Male Female 69 57 31 43 Yes No 79 47 Male Female http://www.aeirc-edu.com/ Syeda Farah Batool 63 Annals of Psychophysiology Volume 4, July 2017 ©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre www.aeirc-edu.com ISSN 2412 - 3188 Figure 1.4 showing the results when the subjects were asked about how do they feel before and after the sexual sensations/activities they replied as follow. Figure 1.5 shows before the activity/sensation/Masturbation. These results prove that stress is the primary cause of sexual addiction. Strikingly most of the subjects have reported that family pressure, study or examination stress, lover issues, and being single are the major causes that induces stress in individuals. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Male Female 75 81 25 19 Yes No 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Uncomfortable Anxiety Stress Anger Suicidal thoughts 74 80 70 89 45 78 83 95 53 67 Female Male http://www.aeirc-edu.com/ Syeda Farah Batool 64 Annals of Psychophysiology Volume 4, July 2017 ©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre www.aeirc-edu.com ISSN 2412 - 3188 Figure 1.6 shows after the activity/sensations/Masturbation Fig 1.6 Shows approximately 90% of female suffer from stress before and after the sexual activity, whereas about 70% were the victims of stress. As per reported by the subjects when they are stressed the tends to have the sexual pleasure and after masturbation or sexual activity they were stressed because they consider themselves a sinner and even tried to harm themselves. This shows that 41% females and 43% males try or Think about suicide. When the subjects were asked that have their parents ever talked with them about puberty or changes that they are going to face in future after puberty, the answers are exactly what we have hypothesized. Sleepy Stress Muscle fatigue Anxiety Restlessness Headache Itching Happiness Relaxation Suicidal thoughts 78 75 41 50 23 33 5 80 70 43 76 90 39 73 15 40 3 80 75 41 Female Male 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Male Female 3 1 97 99 No Yes http://www.aeirc-edu.com/ Syeda Farah Batool 65 Annals of Psychophysiology Volume 4, July 2017 ©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre www.aeirc-edu.com ISSN 2412 - 3188 This is all because of our silence. Parents think that their only responsibility towards their child is to pay their expenses, they don’t even realize that how much their child need them. We don’t even know that we are raising a ‘Rapist’ or a ‘Rape victim’ under the shadow of our so-called “Social norms”. We all are responsible for the increasing rate of prostitution and rape in Pakistan, because we don’t want to discuss our problems and do not want to share our stress. Religion, society, culture, family none of them is a barrier unless we make them one. We all are accountable for raising a generation with all the unstable mind set. Conclusion This is the high time to break the barriers. We need to start thinking and try to discuss and resolve our issues on our own. If parents are not vocal about these issues, then never hesitate to ask. Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge Shamoon Noushad for his effort in finalizing the study. Conflict of Interest None. Funding None. References  Allen, L. S., & Gorski, R. A. (1992). Sexual orientation and the size of the anterior commissure in the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 89(15), 7199-7202.  Dawson, G. N., & Warren, D. E. (2012). Evaluating and treating sexual addiction. 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