Women's Health Advocates Circulates Petition Against Sexual Interest Arousal Disorder

Details: Category: News; Published on Sunday, 29 January 2012 17:10; Written by Lara Landis; Hits: 418

The DSM-5 separated Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder into a male and female component. When the DSM-5 replaces the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistician's Manual, female patients suffer from Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (SIAD). Asexual activists have opposed the inclusion of HSDD, but the Womens' Health Advocates group became concerned about the disorder recently. The Womens' Health Advocate group created a petition to ask the American Psychiatric Association to reconsider labeling low sex drive as a disorder. Their petition suggests that many Asexual women will be labeled with this disorder under its new definition.

The DSM-5 has drew heavy criticism from the American Psychological Association, the British Psychological Society, and Allen Frances, the head of the DSM-IV task force. Asexuals attempted to get the definition for HSDD changed last year, but the definition remains in the DSM-5 and a new disorder was created for women.

Companies strive to create drugs for HSDD, usually low dose testosterone treatments. Libigel, the most promising candidate, recently suffered a setback in its approval process. Many of these drugs are designed for post menopausal women. The other HSDD treatments such as Femprox have not yet entered or are just entering Phrase III clinical trials.

The authors of the petition hope to gain 1,000 signatures.

Sources:

APA: Low Sex Drive is Not a Mental Illness