Women's Sexual Desire—Disordered or Misunderstood?

A new model of women's sexual response moves the focus from spontaneous drive with its markers of sexual thoughts, fantasies, and conscious urge to be sexual to an inherently responsive cycle. The model reflects intimacy-based sexual motivation, processing of sexual stimuli to arousal, cognitive, and affective appraisal of that arousal. Sexual desire to continue the physical experience is accessed later. Providing that the outcome is emotionally and physically satisfying, emotional intimacy with the partner is increased. Any spontaneous sexual drive augments this intimacy-based cycle. Analysis of one or many breaks in the cycle has therapeutic implications.