Sexual Arousal and Sexual Pain Disorders in Women

Low or disrupted sexual arousal is discussed as a transdiagnostic-underlying denominator for women’s sexual dysfunctions. The role of sexual arousal in attenuating the inhibitory aspects of sexual stimuli, as well as factors that weaken sexual arousal are described and clinical implications critically discussed. We put specific emphasis on the bidirectional relationship of sexual arousal and disgust/pain along with the role of disgust and pain expectancies in sexual dysfunctions. Thereby, we aimed to provide a critical evaluation of the treatment options for inhibited sexual arousal with focus on generic and specific interventions targeting disgust: a critical feature that thus far received only scant attention in the available literatur