THE USE OF THE MULTIAXIAL DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR SEXUAL DYSFUNCTIONS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF HYPOACTIVE SEXUAL DESIRE

Hypoactive sexual desire disorders (HSD) are currently recognized as one of the most prevalent and difficult sexual disorders to operationally define, evaluate, and treat. At present, no instrument for the diagnostic assessment has yet prevailed. The present study compared two groups of 20 couples with and without desire problems in order to evaluate the diagnostic utility and discriminative power of the Sexual History Form (SHF), a 28-item questionnaire used to classify sexual dysfunctions following the Multiaxial Diagnostic System for Sexual Dysfunctions (MDSSD). Analysis of the SHF revealed couples with desire problems significantly differed on 15 diagnostic items. Eight of these questions corresponded to the 12 SHF items used by the MDSSD to establish desire-phase diagnoses, and six were most predictive of subjects with desire disorders. Although the current data suggest the SHF is a reliable instrument for the assessment of desire disorders, more studies are needed to further substantiate the diagnostic efficacy of this measure.