THE SEXUAL ATTITUDES, BEHAVIOR, AND RELATIONSHIPS OF WOMEN WITH HISTRIONIC PERSONALITY-DISORDER

To examine the sexual attitudes, behaviors, and intimate relationships of individuals with histrionic personality disorder, this study compared a sample of women with histrionic personality disorders to an adequately matched sample of women without personality disorders (aged 24-31 years) using various measures. As compared to the control group, women with histrionic personality were found to have significantly lower sexual assertiveness, greater erotophobic attitudes toward sex, lower self-esteem, and greater marital dissatisfaction. Women in the histrionic group were also found to evidence significantly greater sexual preoccupation, lower sexual desire, more sexual boredom, greater orgasmic dysfunction, and were more likely to enter into an extramarital affair than their counterparts. Despite these findings, a higher sexual esteem was noted among the histrionic group. This pattern of sexual behavior noted among histrionic women appears consistent with those behaviors exhibited in sexual narcissism. These findings and treatment considerations are explored.