Abstract

The imprecise wording of DSM-IV led to an abusive use of the Paraphilia NOS diagnosis to hospitalize sexual predators for indefinite periods of time through Sexually Violent Predator statues. DSM-5 has threatened to compound the error of DSM-IV through the addition of three diagnosis that invite forensic abuse: ‘coercive paraphilia’, ‘hypersexuality’, and ‘hebephilia’. This article reviews that status of those three diagnoses, as well as the arguments for excluding them from the new manual.

Keywords: DSM-5, Paraphilias, Paraphilias in DSM-5, Sexually violent predator statutes, Paraphilic coercive disorder, Paraphilic coercive disorder in DSM-5, NOS diagnosis, predators, forensic abuse, hebephilia, egregious, idiosyncratic, forensic, incarceration