ABSTRACT

Objective:

Vaginismus is much more frequent in eastern societies than western societies and it is the sexual function disorder which is the most frequent application reason among female patients. This study aims to evaluate the frequency of vaginismus comorbidity in patients who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) or anxiety disorder (AD) when they applied to a psychiatric clinic.

Material and Methods:

Participants of this study were 69 sexually active female patients who applied to a psychiatric clinic and who were primarily diagnosed with either major depressive disorder (24 patients) or anxiety disorder (45 patients) according to the DSM-IV criteria. In-depth interviews conducted by the psychiatrist evaluation of these patients were retrospectively with file scanning.

Results:

While none of the 69 patients have current vaginismus, 25 (36.2%) of them were found to have history of vaginismus. 45.8% of the MDD patients and 31.1% of the anxiety disorder patients had history of vaginismus. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of frequency of vaginismus history. Only one of the patients with vaginismus history applied for sexual treatment in the past. Symptoms of other patients had disappeared without treatment. Improvement occurred in an average of 13 weeks.

Conclusion:

In MDD or AD patients, regardless of history of vaginismus Libido, arousal, sexual process inphase to the phase of vaginal lubrication and orgasm are not significantly affected suggesting that after treatment of vaginismus patients experienced no serious problems in the sexual phase.