F65 — Disorders of sexual preference

Concept, in one sentence

F65 classifies a sexual preference as a disorder, per ICD-10, only with genuine distress, involvement of a nonconsenting person, or harm — not private, consensual variation.

Decisive boundary cues

• Genuine distress, non-consent, or harm present -> meets this category's threshold, as ICD-10 frames it.
• Private, consensual, non-distressing preference -> does not meet this category's threshold.
• Distress about one's own orientation rather than a preference pattern -> see F66 instead.

Duration/course cue

Not duration-based; the presence of distress, non-consent, or harm is decisive.

Nearest alternatives

f66, f64

Common mistake

Treating any unusual sexual interest as automatically disordered, without checking for genuine distress, non-consent, or harm.

Retrieval prompt — one-line memory anchor

Does this pattern involve genuine distress, a nonconsenting person, or harm — or is it private and consensual?