Paraphilia

Paraphilia is the experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, or individuals. No consensus has been found for any precise border between unusual personal sexual tastes and paraphilic ones. There is debate over which, if any, of the paraphilias should be listed in diagnostic manuals, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or theInternational Classification of Diseases.

The number and taxonomy of paraphilias is under debate; one source lists as many as 549 types of paraphilias. Several sub-classifications of the paraphilias have been proposed, and some argue that a fully dimensional, spectrum or complaint-oriented approach would better reflect the evidence.