Sleep
Sex Disorder Causing Infidelity?
In Canberra, Australia a woman apparently seduced and had sex with
strangers while she slept and later had no recollection of her infidelities
due to a sleeping disorder. The middle-aged woman had no idea that
she was sneaking from her house at night in search of sex with random
strangers until her partner awoke, discovered she was missing from
the bedroom, and found her having sex with another man. Her
partner was already aware that she was a sleep walker and also had
been confounded by condoms he found strewn around the house and
was surprised to have found out the cause. Royal Prince Alfred
Hospital sleep medicine physician Peter Buchanan is treating the
woman for her disorder.
The disorder has yet to be given a formal title - at the Annual
Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Sleep Association in Sydney
at the weekend. ``It is very complex, elaborated motor behavior
during sleep,'' Buchanan said. ``People are often stunned and
overwhelmed when they're told what they've been doing.''
The partners and doctors of people suffering from the disorder
often do not believe the acts were committed while they slept,
he said. ``It's very stressful both for them, for their partner
or for their relationship,'' Buchanan said. ``It also promotes
an intense sense of embarrassment on their part, their partner's
behalf and this inhibits people coming forward to seek potentially
helpful professional intervention.''