Exhibitionism: Symptoms and Description

Please see our separate note on Treatment, Mental Disorders and Basic Science for important caveats on the role and definition of diagnostic criteria.

Symptoms of Exhibitionism

The symptoms of exhibitionism, summarized and paraphrased from the DSM-IV TR (2000: American Psychiatric Association), require both that the exhibitionist behaviour or fantasizing causes some stress or impairment to normal functioning and that the behaviour has been ongoing for at least six months:

• For a period of at least 6 months, the patient has intense sexual desires, fantasies or behaviours concerning genital self-exposure to an unsuspecting stranger.
• This behaviour causes clinically important distress or impairs work, social or other important areas of personal functioning.

Voyeurism often co-occurs with another paraphilia, exhibitionism.

Caveats About the Symptoms of Exhibitionism

Mild forms of exhibitionism are tolerated or even considered normal in many societies. To be diagnosed as a mental disorder, the behaviour must focus on unsuspecting strangers (not romantic partners, for example) and must cause stress or impairment.