Sexual Masochism Disorder with Asphyxiophilia: A Deadly yet Underrecognized Disease

Table 1

Comparison of the characteristics of death due to autoerotic asphyxia and suicide.

Death due to autoerotic asphyxia	Suicide
The deceased died of asphyxia due to a binding that was designed to cause hypoxia while he/she was engaged in some form of solitary sexual activity	Absence of some form of sexual activity
Participants often adopt a “rescue mechanism” in case they lose consciousness	It rarely involves rescue mechanisms
It does not involve antemortem evidence of suicidal ideation or depression	It involves antemortem evidence of suicidal ideation or depression
It can be often accompanied with other paraphilias (e.g., bondage and transvestism)	It is not accompanied with paraphilias
Predominant rates among men relative to women	Predominant rates among men relative to women