Orgasm Disorders- Reflection

This past week my group did our presentation on orgasm disorders and focused on Female Orgasmic disorder. It was much more difficult to find information on this disorder than we anticipated, and most of what we found was either about female sexual dysfunction (umbrella term encompassing multiple types of sexual disorders in women) or anorgasmia (one subtype of FOD). While most of the research was lacking in information or contained some misinformation, we were able to find a few factual sites and studies that aided us in learning more about the disorder.

One of the things that surprised me the most, which we included in the wiki but not in the class presentation, is that the only way to diagnose FOD is based on self-report. There is no test or objective way of knowing exactly whether or not a woman has FOD other than if what she says matches what is in the DSM. I found this to be sketchy, and it make me question the utility of the DSM. I have other issues with the DSM that I will likely rant about in future posts, but for now I will focus on the fact that many of the disorders in it are only based on self-report, which indicates that there is no criteria for what is "average" or "normal", which I believe means there is no basis for there being a disorder. Sexuality and orgasms are experienced on a very wide spectrum, so to say that the way one person or group experiences it is a disorder is difficult for me to come to terms with.

All that being said, I found this to be an interesting topic and it will definitely be helpful if I end up working in a place that does make diagnoses. This is a topic that definitely needs more research, as most of the studies we looked at indicated. Orgasms in general are something that everyone could use more psychoeducation about because I found myself learning things that seemed like they should be basic, common sense, but for some reason I had never been told. I still have questions about how mens' bodies function during arousal and orgasm so I would not be surprised if men have a lot of questions about how women's bodies function during those processes.