There are so many reasons why romantic relationships crumble and fall apart, never start, or aren't even attempted. Maybe the woman is too needy, or maybe the man is still too attached to his mother. Maybe it's because the skinny guy with the inhaler would never find the courage to reveal his true feelings to the woman of his dreams. What about the superficial, designer woman who takes her partner for granted and loses him? Could it be because of the young frat boy who can't bear to remain monogamous? A multitude of stereotypes could be inserted here to describe the various reasons why relationships aren't successful, but there exists a shadowy group of individuals whose relationship problems stem from a much deeper problem. This group of people suffers from sexual dysfunction and these disorders tend to be a constant struggle without treatment and end up affecting many aspects of people's lives. Sexual dysfunctions “are characterized by disturbances in sexual desire and psychophysiological changes that characterize the sexual response cycle and cause marked distress and interpersonal difficulties” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. 535). Sexual pain disorders are classified as a category of sexual dysfunctions by the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Vaginismus and dyspareunia are the only two disorders linked to sexual pain and vaginismus is the only one specific to the female gender. Vaginismus is a disorder that has been identified in women for hundreds of years. The first written records of vaginismus date back to the 11th century and was documented in 1861 by a scientist called Sims. He recorded details about a woman who was married f...... middle of paper ...... to the manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, DC: Author. Becker, J. V., & Stinson, J. D. (2008). Descriptions and treatments of sexual dysfunctions. TheAmerican Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing. Extracted from: Psychiatry Online. doi: 10.1176/appi.books.9781585623402.332920Hera Women's Health Centre. (2009). Vaginismus in history. Retrieved from: http://www.vaginismus-center.com/vaginismus-history.aspHera Women's Health Center. (2009). The causes of vaginismus. Retrieved from: http://www.vaginismus-center.com/vaginism-causes.aspMeston, C. M., Rellini, A. H., & Heiman, J. R. (2006). Women's history of sexual abuse, their sexuality, and sexual self-schemas. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 74(2), 229-236. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.74.2.229