Potential Clues to Feigned Sexsomnia
| Element | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Efforts to conceal behavior | Efforts to conceal sexual acts allegedly committed while asleep demonstrates a knowledge of the acts. |
| Repeated episodes of sexual abuse perpetrated after being aware of the behavior | An individual genuinely concerned about the effect of his sleep-related sexual behavior would be more likely to try to reduce the risk of recurrence. |
| Recollection of the episode | Sexsomnia occurs during slow-wave sleep, a time when an individual is typically not conscious. Research demonstrates that full or patchy recall of alleged events occurs in a minority of cases. |
| New-onset sexsomnia presenting as sole parasomnic behavior | One tenth to one third of patients presenting with sexsomnia in research studies have no history of current or prior nonsexual parasomnic behavior. New-onset sexsomnia with no history of other parasomnic behaviors in an individual charged with a sex offense may raise an evaluator’s suspicion. |