Sexsomnia

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Sexsomnia is the name of a sleep disorder that, like sleepwalking (somnambulism), belongs to the field of parasomnias and to the group of non-organic sleep disorders . This disorder is a state in which the person concerned is apparently awake, engaging in sexual acts such as masturbation or, if another person is present, also having sexual intercourse , but does not come to consciousness from non-REM sleep and often does not remember his actions after waking up can remember more.

Occurrence and frequency

Sexsomnia affects men about three times as often as women. The disorder could be observed in a study in 7.6% of the patients (11% of the men and 4% of the women), who were examined for suspected sleep disorders. The authors of the study assume that the proportion of those affected in the total population is much lower.

Demarcation

It is difficult to distinguish between sexsomnia and deliberate rape , as those affected by sexsomnia can also act violently towards other people present. A clear explanation of their actual level of consciousness is difficult in retrospect. For the same reason, research on sexsomnia is difficult because patients are often afraid to talk about their illness because they cannot be believed that they cannot control the abuse.

Symptoms

The sleep disorder sexsomnia is usually harmless in the absence of another person, but in some cases it can also lead to personal injuries. If other people are present at night, however, they can be unintentionally more or less seriously affected by both sides, because the consciousness of the person affected by sexsomnia is limited and orientation is extremely poor.

In an analysis of previous publications, sleep researcher Carlos Schenck named typical behavioral patterns in the specialist magazine Sleep . Affected people can use erotic language, masturbate or force their partner to have more or less forced intercourse. In the period between sleep and waking, others in this state display sexual behavior, symptoms of sleep attacks or prolonged insomnia . This disorder is more common in people with narcolepsy (need to sleep), restless legs syndrome, or painful nocturnal erections . Observations show that a third of those affected are female, which roughly corresponds to the gender-specific rates for sleepwalking.

history

In 1996, Colin Shapiro , longtime senior doctor and researcher at the Sleep Clinic at Toronto Western Hospital in Canada , published the first such cases. In 1999 Michael Mangan , a psychologist at the University of New Hampshire at Durham , started the website www.sleepsex.org. He used this page to come into contact anonymously with patients and received an unexpectedly large response. In 2003 Colin Shapiro published an overview of his research results on a website. In 2007 sleep researchers from the universities of Stanford , Minnesota and Minneapolis ( USA ) tried to classify these parasomnias, which are also known as "sexsomnias". They therefore belong to the "Parasomnias with sexual abnormalities". Other categories are "sexual epileptic seizures while sleeping" and painful erections that go away when you wake up. Another condition is Kleine Levin syndrome , in which excessive sexual activity during wakefulness is postponed after excessive sleep.

Quotes

The sleep researcher Jürgen Zulley of the University of Regensburg said: “Although or precisely because these phenomena are so rare, I find such classification attempts useful. This can help to make such a taboo topic better known. "

Trivia

In the series Desperate Housewives, episode 2 of season 7 deals with sexsomnia. Gabrielle Solis tries to convince her husband Carlos Solis that she has sexsomnia to justify a possible affair with a French man nine years ago.

Also in the series Dr. House , season 1 episode 17, is about sexsomnia. In the subplot, a patient is confronted with her symptoms and then diagnosed. House speaks of a recognized dysfunction.

Also in the series Lawyers in Action Season 1 Episode 62, a legal case on this topic is processed. A woman is pregnant, but it turns out that her husband had himself sterilized a few years ago. However, the protagonist is not aware of any infidelity and turns to the lawyer Bernd Römer, who takes on this case.

literature

  • CH Schenck, MW Mahowald: Parasomnias associated with sleep-disordered breathing and its therapy, including sexsomnia as a recently recognized parasomnia . In: Somnology - sleep research and sleep medicine . tape 12 , no. 1 , March 1, 2008, p. 38-49 , doi : 10.1007 / s11818-008-0332-1 .
  • Michael Mangan: Sleepsex: Uncovered. Xlibris Corp, December 2001, ISBN 978-1-4010-3766-6 (English) also available as an e-book
  • Michael Mangan, U.-D. Reips: Sleep, sex, and the Web: Surveying the difficult-to-reach clinical population suffering from sexsomnia. In: Behavior Research Methods , Volume 39, 2007, pp. 233-236.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SLEEP 2010, San Antonio / Texas, June 7, 2010
  2. ↑ a b : Wolf-Dieter Roth : sleep together in their sleep. Telepolis , October 27, 2006; Retrieved March 12, 2009
  3. ↑ Colin Shapiro et al .: Sexsomnia - a new parasomnia? In: Canadian Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 48, June 2003. p. 311, accessed March 12, 2009
  4. ↑ Sleep and Sex: What Can Go Wrong? In: Sleep . Volume 30, June 2007, PMC 1978350 (free full text).