ABSTRACT
Treatment for compelling sexual behaviors has its roots in the early twentieth century. In 1905, Sigmund Freud published Three Essays on Sexuality. Some of it was focused on an attempt to understand sexual “perversions” the function they served in the psyche and their treatment. Freud viewed sexuality, in its broadest sense, as fundamental to human development, as well as a causative factor in the development of psychic disturbances. Freud’s work, among others, paved the way for reframing these “perverse” sexual behaviors as illnesses worthy of scientiŠc study and medical treatment.
