Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Aging and sexuality: concepts, issues, and research methods
- 2 Sexuality in the aged male; research evidence
- 3 The neurobiology of aging males' sexuality
- 4 Psychological aspects of aging males' sexuality
- 5 Aging and marital sexuality
- 6 Aging and homosexual relationships
- 7 The social context
- 8 The nature and prevalence of sexual disorders in the aged
- 9 Impact of medical illnesses on sexuality
- 10 Psychopathology and sexuality in aging
- 11 Effects of drugs and medications
- 12 Role of psychosocial factors; coping and adaptation
- 13 Assessment of sexual problems
- 14 Management and treatment of sexual problems
- 15 Summary and conclusions
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 June 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Aging and sexuality: concepts, issues, and research methods
- 2 Sexuality in the aged male; research evidence
- 3 The neurobiology of aging males' sexuality
- 4 Psychological aspects of aging males' sexuality
- 5 Aging and marital sexuality
- 6 Aging and homosexual relationships
- 7 The social context
- 8 The nature and prevalence of sexual disorders in the aged
- 9 Impact of medical illnesses on sexuality
- 10 Psychopathology and sexuality in aging
- 11 Effects of drugs and medications
- 12 Role of psychosocial factors; coping and adaptation
- 13 Assessment of sexual problems
- 14 Management and treatment of sexual problems
- 15 Summary and conclusions
- Index
Summary
Sexual anatomy and function have become frequent subjects of discussion in the media following the recent approval and commercial availability of a new oral agent for the treatment of male erectile difficulties. Behind the decline of the taboo concerning sexual topics and humorous comments, there is the clinical reality that, increasingly, older men approach health-care professionals with the hope of enhancing their sexual function. Demographic and social changes as well as advances in sexual knowledge have led to a more open attitude by the aged about their sexual lives. The age structure of the Western World population, which is gradually evolving from a young to an aging society, has been accompanied by an evolution in the experience of adulthood and old age. The prolongation of life, improvements in health-care and a more proactive attitude concerning quality of life, reinforced by the American ‘baby boom’ generation now beginning to reach later adulthood, have all contributed to the increased importance of sexuality for contentment as age progresses. In parallel with these developments, considerable progress has been made, over the last twenty years, in our knowledge of sexual physiology and the deleterious effects of disease and drugs on male sexual function. Although this information has permitted valuable therapeutic interventions, it has also contributed to a distorted picture of aging and sexuality centred on medical illness and organic pathology. The original emphasis on the psychological determination of erectile difficulties has given ground to the current and equally undocumented view that most erectile disorders have an organic basis and to an evolving armamentarium of laboratory and biomedical approaches to diagnose and correct erectile failure.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Aging and Male Sexuality , pp. ix - xPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999