Quote Originally Posted by just_annie View Post
Paraphilias all have in common distressing and repetitive sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors. These fantasies, urges, or behaviors must occur for a significant period of time and must interfere with either satisfactory sexual relations or everyday functioning if the diagnosis is to be made. There is also a sense of distress within these individuals. In other words, they typically recognize the symptoms as negatively impacting their life but feel as if they are unable to control them.


Do you find your fantasies, urges or behaviors distressing? Did you at one point? Did something change your thought process that resulted in it no longer being distressing? Or better yet, let's ask the question, did you find it more distressing when you were trying to squash and ignore or fantasies, urges, or behaviors or after you finally recognized them and started accepting them?

I have been thinking about this question for a bit, since I thought that yes I could be grouped into the category of being a paraphilia. My mind never leaves the kinky, deviant thoughts alone.
I think there is a fine line drawn though, between that disorder and what we here think.
The difference is that paraphilia's are uncomfortable with thier thoughts, they reject them completely. They would not act out nor experience those thoughts. This would be why sexual relations and normal everyday functions are interuppted. We all have random thoughts that go through our minds everyday. Some thoughts may be entirely out of context and place, but we can dismiss them away easily. Some people cannot do that, and the thoughts become the main focus of thier life. They want them gone, but cannot stop thinking about them.

I am sure that we all have our fantasies and thoughts, and we may have been distressed by them when they were not accepted by others.
The difference is that we accept those thoughts and embrace them. When we accept that these thought processes are normal our lives move into a more positive direction. I would think that once it starts taking over your life negatively, then you have a problem.