Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is derived from the Greek words: νεκρός (nekros; "dead") and φιλία (philia; "friendship"). The term was coined by the Belgian alienist Joseph Guislain, who first used it in a lecture in 1850.[1]
Rosman and Resnick (1989) reviewed information from 34 cases
(supplied by psychiatric colleagues) of necrophilia describing the
individuals' motivations for their behaviors: these individuals reported
the desire to possess a non-resisting and non-rejecting partner (68%),
reunions with a romantic partner (21%), sexual attraction to corpses
(15%), comfort or overcoming feelings of isolation (15%), or seeking
self-esteem by expressing power over a homicide victim (12%).[
