Sexual Drive and Its Gratification in Schizophrenia

Abstract

The direction of the sexual drive and the frequency of sexual activity in schizophrenic subjects was investigated. The findings in a group of 100 male in-patients treated for schizophrenia of not more than two years' duration, were compared with the findings in a control group composed of 100 normal males and a second control group including 100 patients suffering from depression. The results of this inquiry show that the schizophrenic subjects not only retain their usual drive and its particular direction, but that they engage in auto-erotic sexual activity two to three times as frequently as the males in the normal population. There was a marked increase in the heterosexual activity, amounting to 10 or 20 per cent. In depressed patients there was a very considerable decrease in their heterosexual activity, to approximately one-eighth of their pre-morbid level. The findings of this investigation have been discussed and summarized in five tables.