Clinical treatment of voyeurism

Voyeurism involves becoming sexually aroused by watching an unsuspecting person who is disrobing, naked, or engaged in sexual activity. Voyeuristic disorder involves acting on voyeuristic urges or fantasies or being distressed by or unable to function because of those urges and fantasies. Doctors diagnose voyeuristic disorder when people feel greatly distressed or become less able to function well because of their behavior, or they have acted on their urges with a person who has not consented. Treatment, which usually begins after voyeurs are arrested, includes psychotherapy, support groups, and certain antidepressants. See also Overview of Paraphilias and Paraphilic Disorders.

Abuse Mental Disorders. The disorder was previously known as Voyeurism and someone with the condition has often been referred to as a "Peeping Tom. A paraphilia involves intense and persistent sexual interest recurrent fantasies, urges or behaviors of a sexual nature that center around children, non-humans animals, objects, materials , or harming others or one's self during sexual activity. In order to be diagnosed with a Paraphilic Disorder, the paraphilia needs to be causing significant distress or impairment, or involve personal harm or risk of harm to others. You can have a paraphilia, but not have a paraphilic disorder.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition DSM-5 , voyeuristic disorder may be diagnosed if an individual continuously experiences strong sexual arousal from observing an unsuspecting person who is either naked, undressing, or engaging in sexual activity. Those diagnosed may be either disclosing individuals or nondisclosing individuals—disclosing individuals freely reveal and discuss this paraphilic interest while nondisclosing individuals deny it. The following diagnostic criteria for identifying whether one has voyeuristic disorder, as set forth by the DSM-5, can apply to both disclosing and nondisclosing individuals:. The following two specifiers are important to tracking progress in controlling or recovering from the disorder:. While voyeuristic disorder is very uncommon among females, the minimum age for a diagnosis of voyeuristic disorder in any individual is 18 years due to puberty and the corresponding age-appropriate sexual curiosity and activity.

Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity , or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature. The term comes from the French voir which means "to see". A male voyeur is commonly labelled as "Peeping Tom" or a "Jags", a term which originates from the Lady Godiva legend.