lntense sexual urges

When norms are used to quantify individual preferences, there is always going to be controversy.  The definition of a paraphilia, according to Comer (2014) is "patterns in which individuals repeatedly have intense sexual urges or fantasies or display sexual behaviors that involve objects or situations outside the usual sexual norms" (p. 347).  Notice that the last phrase concerns deviation, which is one of the 3 D's (dysfunctional, distressful, deviant) used to diagnose psychological disorders.  That being said, while paraphilias can also lead to dysfunctional lifestyles, impacting work and social life for instance, that is not necessarily the case.  In addition, returning to perhaps the most significant of the 3 D's, paraphilias are often not distressful to the individual; indeed, the very definition highlights an affinity for that particular fetish.  A significant exception is pedophilia or other paraphilias which cause distress to OTHER individuals; thus, the term "distress" should be expanded to everyone impacted by the disorder.