The Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS)

The Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS) is a short 28-item questionnaire for assessing the existence and severity of sexual problems. The design, construction and item analysis of the GRISS are described. It is shown to have high reliability and good validity for both the overall scales and the subscales.

Joan of Arc and DSM III

As an exercise in the use of the current diagnostic manual of psychiatric disorders, the life story of Joan of Arc is summarized from birth until her execution at age 19. Then various psychiatric diagnoses are considered in the light of published criteria, including types of psychoses, psychosexual disorders, and personality disorders.

Sexual conflict and eating disorders in 27 males

Twenty-seven anorectic and bulimic males and 142 anorectic and bulimic females treated on an eating disorders unit were compared. Significantly more male patients reported experiencing sexual isolation, sexual inactivity, and conflicted homosexuality.

[Diagnostic problems in impotence]

Every time we see a patient who is complaining of erectile failure we have to evaluate with proper exams the possible organic causes of this dysfunction. After having excluded the organic etiology we can speak of psychogenic impotence. The Authors describe a mixed type case and point out that a strict division between organic and psychological causes it's not always possible; besides it's better to try to understand the patient in his total structure.

[Sexuality in the aged--problems and results]

The study deals with historical, theoretical and practical aspects of sexuality at advanced age, including the effects of pathological disturbances and vocational stress, reference also being made to the international literature on the subject. Questions of sexuality at advanced age were not investigated until fairly recently. The author considers this to be due mainly to social and ideological barriers and recommends that gerosexual knowledge be propagated.

The differential diagnosis of multiple personality. A comprehensive review

This review offers guidelines for the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder and other dissociative disorders and presents diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders, factitious disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, psychosexual disorders, and others that may or may not coexist with multiple personalities.

An analysis of self-reported sexual behavior in a sample of normal males

Ninety-eight presumably normal London men, age 20-35 and sexually active in a stable relationship, responded to an invitation at their work place to participate in a detailed sexuality interview. The interview was developed by a group of WHO collaborators to measure possible effects on sexual functioning resulting from various medical regimens (for example, a male contraceptive pill). It assessed frequency of coitus and masturbation during the previous 4 weeks, a variety of subjective ratings of sexual interest, satisfaction, and quality of relationships, as well as reports of the nature and incidence of various sexual problems. The study sample's responses displayed internal consistency and in general supported the inference that the sample was not atypical. The data appear to support Westoff's (1974) notion that the frequency of coitus has increased since the early normative reports by Kinsey et al. (1948). Most importantly, the results of principal components analyses point to the fact that overall sexual drive or "libido" (e.g., frequency of sexual behavior) is independent of several other possibly significant dimensions, including latency to orgasm, quality of sexual experience, autoeroticism, and the incidence of erectile difficulties. It is concluded that the sexuality interview provides potentially useful baseline data against which to evaluate effects of sexual therapy or drug regimens.

Development and use of self-report techniques for assessing sexual functioning: a review and critique

This is a review and chronological perspective on the development of self-report measures designed to describe an individual's sexual functioning. It includes scales that provide data on both heterosexual and homosexual behavior. Attitude scales are also included, but only those that reflect an individual's attitudes toward his own or his partner's behavior. Two classes of self-report measures are evaluated: (1) unidimensional scales that are relatively short and restricted in the information they supply; and (2) multidimensional inventories or questionnaires that elicit a wider variety of information. Available psychometric data are provided, and the measures are critically examined from both a research and a clinical point of view. It was concluded that unidimensional scales are probably more useful for research settings, while multidimensional inventories appear to have greater potential in clinical settings. All the test instruments reviewed would benefit from refinements, and recommendations are made that additional validity studies be conducted and more normative data be provided.

Erotomania in males

In anglophonic countries erotomania has traditionally been regarded as a female disorder of little more than curiosity value. The French literature recognizes the disorder in males, but as a rarity. In a recently collected group of violent male offenders the syndrome proved to be fairly common. The offending behaviour was invariably triggered by the core symptom. A description is provided of four cases whose level of aggression was low but appeared to be directly related to the firmness with which the delusion of being loved was held. The disorder of these men can be regarded as a variant of one of the major functional psychoses, but for the purposes of predicting behaviour and management there may be advantages in treating it as a syndrome in a similar taxonomic category as that of morbid jealousy.

Etiology of diabetic impotence

We evaluated 31 male diabetics for sexual dysfunction. Patients were examined by an endocrinologist, psychologist or psychiatrist, urologist and neurophysiologist. Evaluation was done by penile blood pressure, pudendal nerve latency, psychologic testing and laboratory tests, including serum testosterone levels. Mean patient age was 53 years and the average onset of sexual dysfunction was 6 years after the diagnosis of diabetes. Results showed that 68 per cent of the patients had evidence of vascular occlusion, 26 per cent had neurologic abnormalities, 19 per cent had low plasma testosterone levels and 38 per cent had relevant psychological problems, although the condition was considered primarily psychogenic in only 19 per cent. Of those patients with abnormal nerve latencies 86 per cent had abnormal Doppler penile systolic pressures, while only 28 per cent of the patients with abnormal penile pressures had abnormal neurologic findings. These data suggest that vascular occlusion is the most prevalent abnormality in impotent diabetics and may predate neurologic abnormalities. The diabetics were divided into 2 groups, insulin-dependent and insulin-nondependent patients. A higher incidence of vascular lesions was found in insulin-dependent diabetics (83 versus 57 per cent), suggesting that vascular pathological conditions are related to severity of the diabetes. Although most diabetics have a vascular etiology for impotence one must remember that other causes may be present and that a thorough investigation is necessary.

Primary orgasmic dysfunction: diagnostic considerations and review of treatment

As a diagnostic category, primary orgasmic dysfunction includes all women who have never experienced orgasm under any circumstances except sleep or fantasy. However, the research samples of nonorgasmic women in clinical reports and empirical investigations are heterogeneous with regard to disruption of earlier phases of the sexual response cycle and emotional concomitants of the dysfunction. The major treatment models—systematic desensitization, sensate focus, directed masturbation, and hypnosis—are presented, and empirical support is reviewed. Separate discussion is included for investigations comparing treatment modalities. Finally, a strategy for future programmatic sex therapy research is suggested within the broader context of psychotherapy outcome research.

[The married couple with functional sexual disorders in the sexual learning therapy]

Experiences gained with 70 married couples in the course of sexual learning show positive effects obtained by including the couples in the therapeutic group and the therapeutical community as well as some problems of the combination of the training with dynamically orientated group psychotherapy. Several positive experiences from the course of learning therapy are briefly described and several negative experiences showing a disturbing effect are analysed in greater detail, such as the initial performance orientation of the husband with potency disturbances, the humiliatinhg behaviours of his wife, fears of the woman to lose her husband after curing, disagreeable sensations of shame of the woman with orgasm disturbances, her prejudices against clitoral stimulation, her desperate efforts to reach orgasm, distractions, getting accustomed to the refusing behaviour of the partner. trivial quarrelling and deeper conflicts.

Multiaxial problem-oriented system for sexual dysfunctions: an alternative to DSM-III

In a multiaxial system for classifying the sexual dysfunctions, the axes specify sexual problems associated with the desire, arousal, and orgasm phases of the sexual response cycle, as well as types of coital pain, dissatisfaction with the frequency of sex, and certain other information relevant to sexual functioning. In contrast to DSM-III and other existing diagnostic systems for sexual dysfunctions, this new multiaxial system is based on highly specific empirical descriptions of sexual behavior. There are no inferences made about the cause of the dysfunctions.