Persistent genital arousal disorder
unwanted, unprompted, persistent arousal of the female genitalia, without desire
Persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD), originally called persistent sexual arousal syndrome (PSAS), is spontaneous, persistent, unwanted and uncontrollable genital arousal in the absence of sexual stimulation or sexual desire, and is typically not relieved by orgasm. Instead, multiple orgasms over hours or days may be required for relief.
PGAD occurs in people of both sexes. It has been compared to priapism in male and female genitalia. PGAD is rare and is not well understood. The literature is inconsistent with the nomenclature. It is distinguished from hypersexuality, which is characterized as heightened sexual desire.
Classification
In 2003, "persistent genital arousal" was considered for inclusion with regard to the International Consultation on Sexual Medicine (ICSM). In 2009, "persistent genital arousal dysfunction" was included in its third edition. PGAD is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), which may be due to the disorder requiring further research.
The public source identifies “Persistent genital arousal disorder” as unwanted, unprompted, persistent arousal of the female genitalia, without desire. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Persistent, genital and arousal.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q176671. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2003 and 2009.
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This entry incorporates text from “Persistent genital arousal disorder” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.