Explaining the Process of Vaginismus Diagnosis: a Content Analysis

150 years consensus on clinical diagnostic criteria of pain, contraction and spasms has been questioned to explain vaginismus. The aim of this study was to understand the process of vaginismus diagnosis in women.

The present study was conducted with a qualitative approach based on the content analysis between 2014-2015. A total of 33 participants including 20 in patients group and 13 in clinical diagnostic group (gynecologist, midwife and clinical psychologist) were selected through purposeful and theoretical sampling in the clinics and family health centers of Tehran and Karaj and they were interviewed based on semi-structured method.

From data analysis, two topics of "perceived disorder in marital relations" with sub-themes of physical suffering and inability to have sexual intercourse and annoyance and psychological-emotional damage and also "applied diagnostic skills and knowledge" with sub-themes of behavioral interaction, were obtained from the diagnostic conditions and diagnostic criteria of the therapist.

The results showed that the therapist should be able to skillfully observe and discover the clinical diagnostic criteria of vaginismus, such as spasm, contraction, and pain, based on what he or she has learned as knowledge of vaginismus. The vaginismus is subsequently confirmed by a skillful analysis of the patient's marital status and the discovery of the dimensions of the patient's physical suffering and inability to have sex and the resulting psychological and psychological damage. For a definitive diagnosis of vaginismus, it is recommended that, at the first, a gynecological examination be performed to detect the clinical features, and second, a skilled analysis of the quality of the couple's marital relationship is recommended.