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Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Advance Access originally published online on August 18, 2009
Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 2009 34(5):487-495; doi:10.1093/jmp/jhp037
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Sex, Immorality, and Mental Disorders

Bernard Gert

Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Charles M. Culver

Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida, USA

Address correspondence to: Prof. Bernard Gert, Department of Philosophy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. E-mail: bernard.gert{at}dartmouth.edu


  Abstract

Although the definition of a mental disorder has remained essentially the same from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, Third Edition, Revised (DSM-III-R) through DSM-IV to DSM-IV-TR, the account of the paraphilias has changed continually. Although the definition in all the DSMs explicitly rules out deviant sexual behavior as sufficient for labeling someone as having a mental disorder, deviant sexual behavior counts as sufficient for all the paraphilias in DSM-III-R. In DSM-IV, the account of all the paraphilias is made consistent with the definition. In DSM-IV-TR, mere deviant sexual behavior is not sufficient for being classified as having a paraphilia, but immoral deviant sexual behavior is. Thus, in DSM-IV-TR, only those paraphilias that involve immoral deviant sexual behavior are inconsistent with the definition, but deviant sexual behavior by itself does not count as a mental disorder.

Keywords: deviance, DSM, harm, immorality, mental disorder, paraphilia, sex


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