Measuring Sexual Interest Distress

Patient-clinician communication about sexual health facilitates trust, the reporting of clinical symptoms, and improves sexual quality of life (Reese et al., 2017). Unfortunately, very little is known about the spectrum of sexual interests and behaviors throughout a lifespan significantly limiting the information shared during those conversations (Hughes & Wittmann, 2014). The American Psychiatric Association (2022) assumed responsibility and detailed when a sexual interest becomes problematic. However, criteria for psychosexual diagnoses are vague and frequently do not have empirical evidence to demonstrate their existence (Moser, 2019; Randall & Sprott, 2016). The following research used the Delphi method to operationally define and differentiate between a variety of psychosexual concepts. Through this pilot study, a panel of 13 experts defined, categorized, and classified a series of terms as well as an array of non-normative sexual behaviors. Results were analyzed through the lens of queer theory and indicated that while expert consensus can be reached, further research is necessary to systematically destigmatize a wider variety of sexual interests.