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A survey of psychosexual arousability in male patients on depot neuroleptic medication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

R Wesby ,
E Bullmore ,
J Earle  and
A Heavey
R Wesby
Affiliation:
North House. St Bernard's Wing, Ealing Hospiral Sourhall, Middlesex UBI 3HW
E Bullmore
Affiliation:
North House. St Bernard's Wing, Ealing Hospiral Sourhall, Middlesex UBI 3HW
J Earle
Affiliation:
North House. St Bernard's Wing, Ealing Hospiral Sourhall, Middlesex UBI 3HW
A Heavey
Affiliation:
Chiltern Wing, Sutton Hospital, Sutton, Surrey SM2 SNF, UK
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Summary

Sexual and endocrine function in a geographically defined population of male patients receiving depot neuroleptic medication were studied (n = 119). It was predicted that psychosexual arousability would be reduced in this patient group, perhaps because of the endocrine effects of medication. Arousability was measured in 63 patients (53% of the population) using a validated questionnaire of sexual function for which normative data were available (Sexuality Experience Scales, SES 2). Blood levels of prolactin, testosterone and gonadotrophins were assayed. Physical sexual dysfunction was common, as was endocrine dysfunction. However, the sample's mean score on the global arousability scale was not significantly different from the normative mean. Arousability was negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with frequency of spontaneous penile erections, but not significantly correlated with endocrine variables or exposure to neuroleptic medication. These results suggest that sexual arousability in response to imagined or audio-visual erotic stimuli is surprisingly unimpaired in medicated male patients suffering from chronic mental illness.

Keywords

depot neurolepticpsychosexual arousabilitysexual dysfunction
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , 1996 , pp. 81 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1996

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