Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA.
J Sex Med. 2011 Aug;8(8):2227-36. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02314.x. Epub 2011 May 19.
Patients seeking help for hypersexual behavior often exhibit features of impulsivity, cognitive rigidity, and poor judgment as well as deficits in emotion regulation and excessive preoccupation with sex. Some of these characteristics are also common among patients presenting with neurological pathology associated with executive dysfunction. Exploring relationships between dysregulated sexual behavior and executive deficits will enhance our understanding of hypersexuality.
This study sought to assess whether patients seeking help for hypersexual behavior exhibit executive deficits as measured by standardized neuropsychological tests of executive functioning when compared with healthy controls.
Executive deficits were assessed in a sample of male patients (N = 30) seeking help for hypersexual behavior compared with a nonhypersexual community sample of men (N = 30) using neuropsychological tests of executive functioning. Using multivariate statistics, differences between the groups were examined.
Sexual activity measured by the Hypersexual Behavior Inventory and the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory. Executive functions measured through neuropsychological testing using several subtests of Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System: Color-Word Interference Test, the Tower Test, the Trail Making Test, the Verbal Fluency Test, as well as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Psychopathology was assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and cognitive ability was assessed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
Significant differences on measures of hypersexuality were observed. However, the groups failed to exhibit significant differences across neuropsychological tests of executive functioning even after controlling for cognitive ability.
These results contradict a previous finding of executive deficits among hypersexual men measured by self-report. The lack of executive deficits suggests that this population may exhibit domain-specific aspects of impulsivity, poor judgment, and risky behavior that are not generalizable to other domains of life. Furthermore, our findings fail to support a conceptualization of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, proposed hypersexual disorder based on models of executive dysfunction. .
寻求帮助治疗性欲亢进的患者通常表现出冲动、认知僵化、判断力差以及情绪调节能力不足和过度关注性等特征。这些特征中的一些也常见于表现出与执行功能障碍相关的神经病理学的患者中。探索性行为失调与执行功能缺陷之间的关系将增强我们对性欲亢进的理解。
本研究旨在评估与健康对照组相比，寻求治疗性欲亢进帮助的患者在使用执行功能的标准化神经心理学测试评估时是否存在执行功能缺陷。
使用执行功能的神经心理学测试，评估寻求治疗性欲亢进帮助的男性患者（N=30）与非性欲亢进的男性社区样本（N=30）的执行功能缺陷。使用多元统计，检验了两组之间的差异。
使用 Hypersexual Behavior Inventory 和 Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory 测量性行为。使用 Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System 的几个子测试（Color-Word Interference Test、Tower Test、Trail Making Test、Verbal Fluency Test 以及 Wisconsin Card Sorting Test）通过神经心理学测试测量执行功能。使用 Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview 评估精神病理学，使用 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 评估认知能力。
观察到性行为方面存在显著差异。然而，即使在控制了认知能力后，两组在执行功能的神经心理学测试中也没有表现出显著差异。
这些结果与之前通过自我报告发现的性欲亢进男性存在执行功能缺陷的发现相矛盾。缺乏执行功能缺陷表明，该人群可能表现出冲动、判断力差和冒险行为的特定领域的特征，而这些特征无法推广到生活的其他领域。此外，我们的研究结果也不支持基于执行功能障碍模型的《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第 5 版提出的性欲亢进障碍的概念化。
