Sexual phobias (states of fear) are unreasonable obsessive states of fear, accompanied by increased psycho-emotional stress and leading to the development of a defense reaction against difficulties in sexual life by refusing to have sexual contacts under any pretext, up to the complete cessation of sexual life.
The most common phobia of sexual initiation (fear before the start of sexual life), which is observed in 11% of patients suffering from any phobias. According to a number of authors, a phobia of sexual initiation is a manifestation of such a pathological state of the psyche as the fear of depersonalization.
Common causes of sexual phobias in marriage include the aggressive behavior of the spouse, the presence of deviant sexual behavior in one of the partners. In this case, the phobia is formed according to the mechanism of development of a protective reaction. Other common variants of sexual phobia include: fear of impotence, gamophobia (fear of marriage), fear of defloration. The latter type of sexual phobia often leads women to develop vaginismus.
Acute sexual states of fear are suddenly appearing and dynamically growing states of fear associated with excitement or sudden maladjustment in the process of sexual contact. They can last from several minutes to several days and are accompanied by anxiety (up to panic) and autonomic disorders. However, these phenomena can also be of a longer duration, for example, acting as one of the manifestations of a mental illness. They can also appear periodically, including accompanying temporary disorders of body function (mental and hormonal crises, hypoglycemic conditions).
Culturally determined sexual states of fear appear in connection with specific cultural influences that cause excitement, fear, or threaten the subject’s individual sexual behavior.