Home > Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders > Dyspareunia

Definition

Dyspareunia is painful sexual intercourse. The same term is used whether the pain results from a medical or a psychosocial problem. Dyspareunia may be diagnosed in men and women, although the diagnosisis rare in men; when it does occur in men, it is almost always caused by a medical problem.

This discussion focuses only on pain with intercourse caused by psychosocial problems; therefore, only women's experiences are emphasized in this entry.

The professional's handbook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth edition, text revised (known as the DSM-IV-TR) classifies this condition as a sexual dysfunction.

Description

Dyspareunia is any pain...