Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffYou can seek help for compulsive sexual behavior in a number of ways. To begin, you may:
- Talk to your family doctor. Your doctor will be able to do a thorough physical examination to look for any health problems linked to your sexual behavior. Your doctor may refer you to a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health provider for a more in-depth examination and treatment. Your doctor may also be able to provide you with information about local providers, support groups, Web sites or other resources.
- Make an appointment with a mental health provider. Look online or in the phone book or check with a local medical center to find a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health provider with experience in sexual behavior issues. Government Web sites and local government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Veterans Affairs may be able to help you find a mental health provider.
- Look into online or local support groups. Examples include Sexaholics Anonymous and Sex Addicts Anonymous. These groups may be able to refer you to an appropriate mental health provider for diagnosis and treatment as well as provide other recommendations and support online or in person.
Because appointments can be brief, and because there's often a lot of ground to cover, it's a good idea to be well prepared for your appointment. Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment, and what to expect from your doctor or mental health provider.
What you can do
Here area few steps that can help you get ready for your appointment.
- Take some notes about your behavior, including when and how often it occurs and what seems to trigger it or make it worse.
- List any legal, employment or relationship problems caused by your behavior.
- Note any other mental health issues you have, whether diagnosed or not, such as depression or anxiety. Other mental health conditions often occur along with compulsive sexual behavior and may need treatment as well.
- Take an honest assessment of your substance use. Alcohol and drug abuse are common in people with compulsive sexual behavior and may need to be treated for compulsive sexual behavior to improve.
- Write down key personal information, including any recent or past traumatic events, current stresses and recent life changes.
- Make a list of all medications, as well as any vitamins or supplements, that you're taking.
- Write down questions to ask your doctor.
Your time with your doctor is limited, so preparing a list of questions ahead of time will help you make the most of your time together. List your questions from most important to least important in case time runs out.
In addition to the questions that you've prepared to ask your doctor, don't hesitate to ask questions during your appointment at any time that you don't understand something.
What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions. Being ready to answer them may reserve time to go over any points you want to spend more time on. Your doctor may ask:
- When did you first begin noticing harmful sexual behavior or desires?
- Have your behaviors caused legal, relationship or employment problems, or significant distress in your day-to-day life?
- Does your behavior feel like it's getting more extreme or more out of control?
- Have you ever caused or been the victim of physical, emotional, psychological or sexual abuse?
- Has your behavior hurt you or others in the past, and are you afraid it may hurt you or others in the future?
- What other mental health conditions do you have?
- Do you drink alcohol or use street drugs?
- How intense are your sexual urges? When do you lose control?
- What, if anything, seems to lessen your sexual urges?
- What, if anything, appears to increase your sexual urges
- Mick TM, et al. Impulsive-compulsive sexual behavior. CNS Spectrums. 2006;11:944.
- Paraphilias. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Aug. 19, 2009.
- Codispoti VL. Pharmacology of sexually compulsive behavior. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2008;31:671.
- Kuzma J, et al. Epidemiology, prevalence, and natural history of compulsive sexual behavior. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2008;31:603.
