Sex guilt and paraphilic behavior

Outpatient paraphilic's sex guilt scores were compared to their self-reported number of paraphilic acts. Additionally, the relation between sex guilt and penile tumescence in response to deviant sexual stimuli were analyzed using a conversion score of penile tumescence (deviant sexual arousal divided by sexual arousal toward neutral stimuli). Sex guilt scores were significantly related to the number of self-reported deviant acts and were higher than those typically reported for the general population. Sex guilt was not significantly related to deviant sexual arousal. However, there was a weak, but significant, relation between age and deviant sexual arousal. Sex guilt appears to pose no threat to the validity of erectile measures in assessing paraphilics. Nonetheless, the relation between sex guilt and self-reported deviant sexual acts suggests sex guilt as a potentially useful treatment focus.