Urophilia: symptoms, causes and treatment

This paraphilia is based on fantasies related to urine, limiting sexuality to that.

Human sexuality is very variedThere are multiple stimuli that different people may find sexually appealing. From the most traditional sexual relations to the use of specific clothing, fantasies and role-playing or BDSM practices, all of them are practicable and can produce different degrees of pleasure for those who perform them.

However, there are also practices that cause Pain or discomfort to the person or that can become compulsive, limiting the functionality of the person who carries them out, and in some cases could even become a crime when non-consensual practices are carried out (not necessarily including sexual intercourse) or with people or entities without the capacity to consent (such as children, animals and corpses).

We are talking about paraphilias. Among them there are some really dangerous, illegal and criminal, while others, although they do not generate suffering to others and do not incur in a crime, can generate discomfort to the sufferer due to the consideration that what sexually attracts him or her or to the extreme fixation with such stimulation. One of the latter is urophilia, which we are going to talk about in the next section.which we are going to talk about in this article.

Urophilia as a paraphilia

The urophilia is one of the multiple paraphilic disorders that exist, disorders formerly called disorders of sexual inclination or of the choice of the object of desire. or of the choice of the object of desire that are characterized by the presence of sexual fantasies and/or sexual behaviors that have as protagonists unusual objects of desire, generally non-consenting or non-consenting living beings or the fact of providing or receiving pain and humiliation.

To be considered as such these fantasies must be continuous and existing for at least six months and generate suffering, discomfort or functional limitations to the patient.discomfort or functional limitations to the person who suffers them or to their sexual partners. Likewise, the object of desire is usually very restricted, sometimes being the only thing that generates some kind of sexual stimulation for the subject or a requirement to achieve orgasm or sexual arousal.

In the present case, urophilia, we are dealing with a paraphilia in which the object of desire or the motivator of the fantasy and sexual arousal is urine or the fact of urinating. Touching, seeing, hearing or smelling someone urinating or the liquid itself is gratifying for these subjects (urolangia). Generally, subjects with hemophilia are attracted to the idea of urinating on their partner or having their partner urinate on them (the subject may have a passive or active role in urination). The idea of ingesting the fluid (urophagia) may also be exciting.

Although socially unaccepted, sexual practices related to urophilia do not usually generate great danger. for the people who perform them. However, it is necessary to take into account the existence of a certain danger in this type of practices with regard to the contagion of bacterial infections.

Although urophilia is not very common as a paraphilia, it is taken into account as an alteration or disorder. Specifically, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders includes urophilia in the classification of "other specific paraphilic disorders".

Differentiation with scatological practices

Given this definition of urophilia, it is likely that many people may consider that the fact of engaging in sexual practices in which urinating on each other or playing with urine therefore implies an alteration or psychopathology. But it is necessary to clarify that this is not the case.

This clarification is very necessary, given that there are sexual practices such as scatological practices that although they are not socially well seen or accepted, they do not imply pathology.. As with other unusual sexual practices, the so-called golden shower is nothing more than a way to obtain sexual gratification through a specific experience or simply to experiment.

In other words, the fact of becoming aroused in a context involving urine does not imply the presence of urophilia as a paraphilia. We will only consider that we are dealing with a pathology when this practice is the only means to obtain sexual gratification, limits the life of the subject and/orIt limits the subject's life and/or generates discomfort and suffering.

Causes

The causes that generate urophilia are unknown, although there are several there are several interpretations about it. As with other paraphilias, it is considered that urophilia may have its origin in learning by conditioning, having casually associated sexual arousal with urination and subsequently having strengthened this association with practices such as masturbation.

This explanation may make some sense, especially if we take into account that the genital and urinary tracts are very close in women, while in men both semen and urine pass through the urethra, sexual arousal may be associated with the sensations produced by urination..

Another possible explanation has to do with the association of urine as an element of power. In nature, urine is used by a great number of animals as an element that allows them to signal the ownership of a territory. Sexual arousal before urophilic practices could be linked to this fact, being a game of power or submission. In this sense, there are authors who link urophilia with sadomasochism.

Treatment of this paraphilia

When we are talking about urophilia properly speaking, i.e. the situation in which sexual arousal is restricted to these practices and its realization generates discomfort, suffering or limitations to oneself or others, psychological intervention may be necessary..

The first thing to do would be to find out the level of affectation for the person involved, what aspects limit him/her and what thoughts or feelings his/her object of desire generates. It is necessary to evaluate where it can be its origin and what meaning has for the subject the urine in the sexual bonding.

In addition, it will be necessary to work as much as possible on possible couple and sexual problems that may exist in a comorbid way or that may be related to the genesis of the paraphilia. The development of positive bonds will be worked on and the analysis and modification of fantasies can be sought: recovering the subject's fantasies and assessing what part of them are exciting to him/her, as well as the reason for this. Once this aspect is located, the subject is instructed to introduce alterations in these fantasies at the moment of masturbation.

Another technique that can be used is masturbatory reconditioning, in which the patient is instructed to masturbate on multiple occasions and then (especially in the refractory period) describe the elements that generate sexual desire. In this case, the aim would be to to make urine not be associated with sexual arousal..

But these two examples are techniques that would only make sense if the urophilia generates suffering in the patient or limits him or his partner. In the latter case, it may also be more than advisable to seek couple and sexual therapy in order to find a solution. It is also possible that a person discovers that practices such as golden shower simply pleases him/her and for some reason or due to social pressure he/she blocks or inhibits himself/herself, and cognitive restructuring can be worked on so as not to see him/herself as disturbed or strange.