Case reportSexsomnia: An uncommon variety of parasomnia
Introduction
Sexsomnia is a particular form of parasomnia characterized by atypical sexual behaviour during sleep [1], [2], [3]. This clinical entity has only rarely been reported in the literature and its frequency is certainly largely underestimated because patients are reluctant to talk about their symptoms, and physicians have insufficient information to identify the disease. However, over the last few years, increasing attention has been paid to this disorder because of the forensic aspects, i.e. sleep-related violence and its consequences with regard to the law [4].
We report herein two patients exhibiting abnormal sexual behaviour during sleep. Diagnosis of sexsomnia was made after complete clinical and neurophysiological evaluation.
Section snippets
Case 1
A 36-year-old married woman with five children was referred to our sleep disorder centre because of abnormal behaviour during sleep. Her personal medical history was characterized by moderate to heavy alcohol consumption up to the age of 19 years. She had a history of sleepwalking that started in childhood and continues to the present day. Her husband complained that she regularly sexually assaulted him while he was sleeping. Indeed, he frequently woke up while his wife was masturbating him or
Discussion
Abnormal sexual behaviour during sleep was first described by Motet in 1897 [5]. The author reported the case of a man who attempted to entice a policeman by exposing his genitals. The patient had no memory of the episode and was sentenced to 3 months’ imprisonment. However, since this initial description, only a few cases of atypical sexual behaviour during sleep have been reported. The frequency of such behaviour, also called somnambulistic sexual behaviour, sleepsex, or sexsomnia, is
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