Necrophilia: characteristics, causes and treatment

Necrophilia is one of the most rejected sexual disorders in society, because few individuals can understand that there are subjects who are sexually aroused in the presence of corpses.

But what exactly is this disorder? What are its symptoms and its treatment? In today's article we will answer these questions. Now, to understand what necrophilia is, first we will explain what paraphilias are, a category in which necrophilia is included.

Necrophilia, one of the most studied paraphilias

Sexual disorders are divided into three broad categories: paraphilias, sexual dysfunctions, and sexual identity disorders. The word paraphilia It has its origin in the Greek language. In Greek, “para” means next to, and “filein” is synonymous with the verb “love”.

Paraphilias are mental disorders characterized by intense and repeated sexual fantasies, sexual impulses towards children or people who do not consent, or towards non-human objects or situations such as suffering or self-humiliation. Therefore, paraphilias such as necrophilia negatively affect the quality of life of one or more people. Some of the best known are: exhibitionism, voyeurism,

fetishism or pedophilia.

You can learn more about these paraphilias in our article: " The main sexual and psychosexual disorders"

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), these sexual fantasies or sexual urges occur during a significant period of time (at least 6 months) and interfere with the normal functioning of the person or the sexual satisfaction of their relations.

Characteristics of the behavior of the person with paraphilia

Although paraphilias are often seen as strange and extreme behaviors, they are more easy to understand if one thinks about those behaviors that, in less extreme cases, are quite common. For example, for a person, sexting can cause arousal. However, when an individual is only aroused through sexting, then it would be considered a paraphilia, because he has a way of satisfying her sexual desires that negatively affects her well-being.

Recommended article: "Sexting: the risky practice of sending yourself spicy photos via mobile phone"

In summary, the behavior of people with paraphilia is characterized by:

• Paraphilia is a disorder of sexual desire that lasts for at least six months. Therefore, it must have been maintained over time.
• It includes abnormal behavior, excitement, fantasy, or pain.
• There are many types of paraphilias in which the person who suffers it has fantasies, desires or even maintains relationships with objects or people without her consent.
• Psychotherapy or antiandrogens are beneficial for patients to control their abnormal sexual behavior.

Necrophilia: a strange disorder

Within the paraphilias, necrophilia is, together with the pedophilia, one of the paraphilias that causes the greatest social rejection. Few individuals can imagine a person having an intimate relationship with a dead person. But the truth is that, despite his strangeness, over the years cases such as that of Carl tanzler, who has become famous for her macabre story: he exhumed the corpse of a former patient of hers to maintain intimate relationships with her.

People with necrophilia get excited by corpses, the fantasies with these or the fact of possessing objects of the person who is no longer there, with which they can play intimate games. This pathology leads the necrophiliac to a feeling of apathy with those around them, turning his life into this type of act.

Social pressure against necrophilia

Some necrophilia patients have had a life in common with the deceased person and, after their death, wish to continue copulating with the deceased. In other cases, necrophiles may have sexual relations with multiple victims, as in the case of Kenneth douglas, a necrophiliac from Hamilton County in Ohio, (United States), who he had sex with more than 100 corpses of women while working as an auxiliary in a morgue in that region. In this case, the necrophiliac was able to direct his life so that he could carry out these acts, so that he was not affected by social censorship.

But necrophilia not only brings with it social or personal consequences, but also legal ones, since the desecration of tombs and the retention of a lifeless body is penalized in the majority of countries. Therefore, many necrophiles end up arrested and having severe problems with the law.

Possible treatments

Different techniques can be used for the treatment of necrophilia, generally the cognitive behavioral therapy. Psychotherapy (both individual and group) is the fundamental pillar in the treatment of these patients and, in addition, it is usually part of a multimodal treatment, which may include training of social skills, drug administration and hormonal treatment.

The administration of antiandrogen drugs such as medroxyprogesterone acetate (in the United States) or cyproterone acetate (in Europe) is the treatment of choice for this disorder. Treatment is long-term, because deviant sexual arousal patterns can reoccur shortly after testosterone levels return to normal.

The administration of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine or fluvoxamine can be helpful as well.

Carl Tanzler: one of the most famous cases of Necrophilia

One of the most famous cases of necrophilia is that of Carl Tanzler, a man who, astonishingly, he was able to exhume the corpse of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, who he considered the woman in her life, to continue having sex with her.

Tanzler managed to glue the bones of her late beloved with hangers and cables, put glass eyes in her eye sockets, and changed the rotten flesh of this by silk cloth treated with wax and white plaster, since the body was in a considerable state of putrefaction and thus could keep it more visible weather.

Learn more about this case in our article: "The famous and macabre case of necrophilia of Carl Tanzler”

Bibliographic references:

• Aggrawal, Anil (2008). Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices. CRC Press. p. 296.
• Masters, Brian (1985). Killing For Company. Arrow. ISBN 978-0099552611.
• Aggrawal, Anil (2010). Necrophilia: Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects. CRC Press. pp. 6–7. The primary source is Histories, Book V, 92.