A Review of Patients in a Psychosexual Clinic-How Strong is the Relationship between Psychosexual Problems and a History of Sexual Abuse or Assault?

Abstract

The setting for this study was a weekly NHS psychosexual clinic, within a family planning service in Medway, Kent, UK. Demographic data for the Medway urban conurbation suggest a 93% British White population. The clinic was run by a single doctor and the notes made by the doctor during the counselling sessions of 100 patients seen from 2011 to 2013 were analysed and a search performed for a disclosure of sexual abuse or assault. Patients with an obvious physical cause for their psychosexual problem such as men with diabetes causing erectile dysfunction or women with the skin disorder, lichen sclerosus causing dyspareunia (painful sex), were excluded. The frequency with which sexual abuse or assault had been disclosed was calculated as a percentage of the patient notes reviewed. There were 17 males and 83 females in the study, which falls within the usual range of male to female patients seen within the Medway psychosexual clinic. The age range was 23- 73 years for males and 16-59 for females. Mean age for women was 5 years and for men 36 years. A wide variety of psychosexual problems were reported and an attempt was made to investigate the relationship between a disclosure of abuse and the specific type of psychosexual problem reported. Language: en