Nymphomania Superstar

"Symptoms. In nymphomania the sexual desire is purely physical in character, and centered upon the local pleasurable excitement of the genitals. There is none of the higher feeling of love which is so characteristic of the erotomaniac.

The best and most careful rearing of girls suffering from nymphomania, says Reti, cannot save them from their downfall. In their wild passion, casting all moral and social considerations aside, they throw themselves into the arms of sin. The more they abandon themselves to the gratification of their lust, the greater is the desire of their morbidly irritated sexual centers for lecherous satisfaction.
Every indulgence increases the desire and lessens the capacity.

Trelat tells of a young girl, the daughter of a professor, who at the age of 15 would receive soldiers at night through her bedroom-window to satisfy her increased
desire.

Talmey cites the following case from Reti : The patient lived happily with her husband until after the birth of her first child. From that moment insatiable lust seized her. An irresistible craving suddenly took hold of her an indomitable lust to embrace a man. In her genitals she felt a morbid itching, an inexplicable excitement, a burning desire for sexual gratification. In the beginning her
husband tried to satisfy her until he discovered his impossibility to do this. She did not allow an hour of the day to pass without demanding gratification from her husband.
He was terrified to see her pressing her genitals to the edge of the table, to the door or any other hard object, in order to satisfy her sensual appetite. When she became worse from day to day her husband decided that she was ill and brought her to the hospital for examination. At the introduction of the speculum, at first a morbid contraction of the constrictor cunni muscle occurred. The touch of the carunculse myrtiformes provoked intense pain. After surmounting the obstacle, however, the pain ceased and a blissful rapture ensued. "Now! Now!" exclaimed the patient when the entire speculum was within the vagina. A convulsive movement seized her entire body, a thrill went through her, and she made all the movements of a passionate coition.

The nymphomaniac tries, by all sorts of coquetry and exposure of her genitals if necessary, to attract men to her for purposes of coitus. In many cases, the mere sight of a man is enough to throw her into the most intense sexual excitement. Wulffen gives the following instance from Merzbach: A Berlin lady, belonging to the highest society, grabbed, under cover of her napkin, at the dinner, the genital organs of her supper partner.

One of the prominent symptoms, especially in young girls, is the demand for gynecological examination, and especially for catheterization. Any excuse for examination is brought forward. The patients will voluntarily retain their urine in order to have to be catheterized. The mind of these patients is simply full of sexual ideas. The patient, if unmarried, will invent numberless diseases for the
purpose of being manipulated by the gynecologist. Krafft-Ebing rightly says that the milder cases of nymphomania claim our sympathy not less than those unfortunate women who by irresistible impulses are forced to sacrifice feminine honor and dignity, for they are fully conscious of their painful situation; they are a toy in the
grip of morbid imagination which revolves solely around sexual ideas and grasps even the most distant points in the sense of an aphrodisiac.

Many of these cases, in their despair, come begging for castration, in the hope of finding relief in this operation, and some have even attempted suicide.

(...) Lombroso cites several examples of this inordinate sexual desire as follows: One woman surrendered herself to her husband's laborers; another had for her lovers all the desperadoes of Texas; a third had intercourse with all the herdsmen of her village; a fourth, though her husband occupied a good social position, led the life of a prostitute; a fifth, a cultured and intelligent woman, entertained a common bricklayer, etc. He also gives the following examples: A hysterical girl visited a physician and said to him, "I am still a virgin ; take me." She submitted him to the utmost extremity of provocation, and asserted afterward that she had been violated. A rich young lady met a workingman in the street, offered herself to him, was
accepted, and when she returned home related the affair with laughter. White and Martin 134 mention the case of a mother of five children who, in despair about her inordinate sexual desire, attempted suicide, and then sought an asylum. There her condition improved but she never trusted herself to leave it.

(...)

Diagnosis. The diagnosis is made from a careful consideration of the entire history. We must remember that simple increase of sexual desire does not constitute nymphomania, and that the dividing line between normal and pathological sexual desire is not easily defined. Whenever a single girl seeks or enjoys gynecological examination, or, without evident cause, desires catheterization, we must suspect nymphomania.

Course and Prognosis. The course of the disease is generally from bad to worse, and the prognosis is generally very bad. Many of these cases end up as prostitutes, and
quite a few become insane.

Treatment. The treatment is very unsatisfactory, as in the vast majority of cases nothing can be done for them. According to Forel, Moll, von Schrenck-Notzing, and Fuchs, hypnotism has cured mild cases, but has been found absolutely powerless in the severe forms of the disease. Forel especially warns against the method of treatment by marrying a nymphomaniac with a man who is the victim of satyriasis. This has been tried, with the result that the children inherited the sum total of the degenerate qualities of the parents. Rohleder states that Frankel has been trying Roentgen treatment of the ovaries, with the idea of not only causing sterility but also a diminution of the libido, but he does not know if any good has resulted therefrom. The best that can be done for these unfortunates is to put them into an asylum where they can be of no harm either to themselves or to society in general..."


Max Huhner