Deviant tendencies are understood as either the presence in the subject of erotic dreams and sexual fantasies (including those accompanying masturbation, viewing pornography, sexual intercourse) of ideas about one’s own participation in deviant behavior, or, associated with sexual arousal or achieving orgasm, a feeling of need for such behaviour. Another form of deviant tendencies is the sporadic experience of behavior of a deviant type, more often carried out by chance or out of curiosity.
Diagnosis of deviant tendencies is carried out by testing both quantitative and qualitative criteria. A quantitative criterion is the frequency of manifestation of deviant fantasies and needs, as well as deviant behavior in a given subject in relation to normal heterosexual orientation and activity (whether they are single, sporadic, or appear more often). A qualitative criterion is the degree of severity of the deviational orientation in relation to the heterosexual one (which of the orientations is dominant and to what extent). Diagnosis is based on a test of the sexual biography of the person being examined, as well as on the use of additional research methods. Among the latter, the most important are psychological methods that make it possible to reveal hidden or concealed deviant tendencies.
The described phenomenon is quite widespread in the human population. Most people who have sexually deviant tendencies drown them out in themselves, and for many of them, only the very awareness of the presence of such needs causes fear.
One might get the impression that the appearance of deviant tendencies is a harbinger of sexual deviations or mental illness. However, numerous clinical observations of people who turned to doctors and were concerned about the presence of such tendencies in them show that in the vast majority of cases, they do not even need to provide them with any kind of medical assistance.