An Analysis of the Development and Validation of the Decreased Sexual Desire Screener for the Diagnosis of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder

This paper will focus on a.) the clinical need of a valid and reliable screening tool to diagnose HSDD in order to address a growing public health issue of under-diagnosing women with HSDD and the effect on their health and family, a vital and basic human right; b.) the challenging divergence between FSD expert and regulatory agency opinion regarding existing FSD instruments circa April 2005 and the need for additional diagnostic instruments; c.) whether or not the development of a validated brief simple diagnostic instrument for HSDD by DSM-IV-TR criteria in general practice by clinicians was necessary if there were existing instruments that may have been used to diagnose patients with HSDD; and d.) an analysis of the development and validation of a brief diagnostic instrument, the Decreased Sexual Desire ScreenerÓ (DSDS), in order to diagnose HSDD by DSM-IV-TR criteria in general practice. The premise guiding this paper is that without a valid and reliable screening tool to diagnose HSDD, clinicians could not adequately or quickly diagnose their patient’s HSDD and address their distress resulting from decreased sexual desire and the development and validation of a brief simple diagnostic instrument to diagnose HSDD by DSM-IV-TR criteria in women, particularly pre-menopausal women, was necessary because of deficiencies involving the existing FSD instruments prior to the development of the DSDS.