94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1555024
Sexually aggressive behavior triggered by parasitic infectionhow parasites can influence our personality
Provisionally accepted- 1Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- 2University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia, Bulgaria
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Parasitic infections are not only a health problem, but also a psychological and behavioral one. Research shows that certain parasites can influence the personality traits and behavior of infected individuals. Toxoplasma gondii, a well-known parasite, is suspected of increasing the risk of sexually aggressive behavior. This paper examines the links between parasitic infections and personality changes and analyzes the mechanisms by which parasites can affect the nervous system and associated behaviors. The aim is to raise awareness of the psychological and behavioral effects of parasitic infections and to stimulate future research in this area.
Keywords: personality change, Parasitic Infection, Sexual aggression, Toxoplasma gondii, Neuropsychiatric, psychological behavior
Received: 03 Jan 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Goczol. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Marco Goczol, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.