Potency Disorders Research Articles

The making of an ageing disease: the representation of the male menopause in Finnish medical literature

Male ageing is in focus nowadays. The aim of this study was to investigate conceptions of the male menopause (also known as andropause) in the educational and professional literature of Finnish physicians from 1982 to 2002, and the main point of interest was how the presentation of the male menopause and its treatments have changed. Published items for analysis were retrieved from the two main Finnish medical journals and from introductory gynaecology and urology textbooks using keywords for male ageing and hormones. It was found that disagreements about the male menopause have been marked. Some authors described it as a consequence of the decline in gonad functioning that comes with increased age, and some argued that we are making a disease out of normal ageing, but its association with sexual problems has risen in prominence: libido and potency disorders have recently been identified as symptoms. The treatment provided for male menopause was androgens, about which opinions diverged, especially the effect of androgen therapy on cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis. New forms of testosterone treatment have been eagerly adopted, but opinions varied on the appropriate duration of the therapies. By the 2000s, the male menopause was increasingly likened to the female menopause, with emphasis upon the similar symptoms. While gerontological thinking largely sees the male menopause as an aspect of ageing and a normal condition, the andrological approach regards it as a treatable disease and its rapid adoption can be seen as a reflection of both private and public concerns about increased longevity.

Andrologic profile of patients in the Near and Middle East.

This study is based on file forms of 258 patients from the Near and Middle East. We completed an evaluation and statistical analysis of the basic frequencies of anamnestic data, clinical findings, and laboratory analyses. The average patient age was 35 y, and that of their female partners 28 y; 90% of all patients were married at the time of examination; 65% of patients named the desire to have children as their reason for examination, 24% had potency disorders, and 5% came because of genital diseases. In 29% the desire for children had been existent for 1 to 5 y, and in 23% for 6 to 10 y. Thirty-six percent reported taking nicotine. The most frequently found genital disease was varicocele (22%). Twenty percent of patients reported gonorrhea, and 13% reported urethritis. Sixty-one percent reported some illness in the past that had affected the genital area. Thirty-three percent of patients suffered from potency disorders. Thirty-two percent of patients had sexual intercourse 6 to 10 times per month, 22% 1 to 5 times, and 22% 11 to 15 times per month.

Double Blind Trial of Yohimbine Hydrochloride in the Treatment of Erection Inadequacy

Abstract For many years yohimbine was a common treatment for disorders of potency and libido. However, yohimbine was withdrawn from use in the United Kingdom on account of inadequacy of the documentation confirming its efficiency. We report here the results of a double blind, cross over, placebo controlled trial of yohimbine hydrochloride 5.4 mg three times daily in the treatment of erectile inadequacy of mixed aetiology. Efficacy data are presented on 61 of 70 men recruited to the trial. Yohimbine was associated with a significant improvement in the quality of stimulated erections. The drug was generally well tolerated

Treatments of Male Potency Disorders: the Present Status

In this chapter, Cooper reviews the available literature on treatment of male sexual dysfunction. Although this article is somewhat dated (1972), it remains valuable for its review of various psychotherapeutic approaches to male dysfunction.

An attempt to shape human penile responses

P otency disorders of insidious onset and long duration have a poor prognosis both in conventional therapy (Johnson 1965) and when treated by desensitization (Cooper 1969). Homosexual patients with little hetero- sexual interest prior to treatment show a poor response to anticipatory avoidance conditioning (Feldman 1969). McConaghy (1969) suggests that at least some forms of aversion therapy may be followed by a further reduction in heterosexual interest: aversion therapy may therefore be particularly inappropriate in patients who already exhibit reduced or absent heterosexual interest. Thus, in the treatment of some homosexuals and in some potency disorders there is a need for a new technique which would strengthen heterosexual interest. Classical conditioning has been used by Rachman (1967) and Rachman and Hodgson (1968) to produce conditioned phallic responses to previously neutral stimuli in normal males. Laws and Rubin (1969) have used instructions to control normal male sexual responses. Recently operant conditioning of autonomic responses has been convincingly demonstrated in animals and less definitely in man (Katkin and Murray, 1968). As operant procedures exert a characteristically strong control over the occurrence and amplitude of responses they may be particularly appropriate for the manipulation of heterosexual interest. The present study reports a pilot attempt to give a heterosexual stimulus discriminative control over phallic responses in a homosexual.

Guide to treatment and short-term prognosis of male potency disorders in hospital and general practice.

Guide to treatment and short-term prognosis of male potency disorders in hospital and general practice.

Factors in male sexual inadequacy: a review.

1) A representative selection of the enormous literature on factors generally held to be causally important in male potency disorders is reviewed. Although some degree of overlap may exist, for simplicity, the subject is considered under the three main “etiologically presumed” subgroups: “organic,” “constitutional,” and “psychogenic.” The pathognomonic features of each are briefly outlined. 2) Since most authorities state that “psychogenic factors” are dominant in male potency disorders, the review concentrates on a sample of this literature; contributions from a) psychoanalytical, psychoanalytically-oriented, b) eclecticist, and c) behaviorist sources are evaluated. The most frequently asserted “psychogenic causes” of male potency disorders encountered are a) anxiety or fear, b) hostility and resentment, c) disgust, d) inversion of the sex drive, e) inhibition, f) personality factors, g) ignorance and misinformation, and h) the functional psychoses. It is concluded that, with the possible exceptions of the functional psychoses and inverted sex drive, where there is a strong clinical likelihood, if not as yet a proven statistical association, no definite statement regarding the etiological importance of the other “psychogenic factors” can be made using the presently available material. In most cases, etiological generalizations have been made on inadequate nonspecific data, often derived from single or a few case studies. Another serious criticism relates to interpretation of observations; for example, that anxiety, hostility, disgust, and other such factors or a functional psychosis might coexist with a potency disorder is incontestable, but to assume causality may only rarely be admissible; more often these may be its consequence or a mere coincidence. 3) Some suggestions for improving the methodology of psychological research on etiological factors in male potency disorders are offered and may include a) greater empiricism, b) more stringent criteria for inclusion in any study which should be explicit, prospective, controlled, modest, and replicable by others, c) the use of standard objective validated measuring instruments, and d) the application of appropriate statistical methods. 4) Despite the consensus view widely expressed in the literature that potency disorders are psychosomatie, few, if any, workers have attempted specifically to measure simultaneously and to correlate physiological and psychological responses in these or related conditions. 5) It is suggested that, in the future, a multidisciplinary and simultaneous approach, involving psychiatric, psychological, and physiological parameters will provide better and more valid methods of studying the etiological interrelationships between various “psychological factors” and disordered potency.

“Sex Drive” and Male Potency Disorders

“Sex Drive” and Male Potency Disorders

A clinical study of “coital anxiety” in male potency disorders

Many authorities of widely different psychiatric schools from the psychoanalytic, to the behavioral, cite anxiety as being the most important cause of male potency disorders, Fenichel [1], Stekel [2], Vanderveldt and Odenwald [3], Gutheil [4], Allen [5], Stanfford-Clark [6], Rachman [7], Wolpe [8], respectively, to mention only a representative sample. In a previous study, however, the author was unable to demonstrate any statistical association between “anxiety” (or “neurosis”) as measured by (a) a standard psychological test (The N.S.Q.—Scheier and Cattell [9]) or (b) as judged clinically and “psychogenic” potency disorders (Cooper [10]). The author concluded that “neurosis” or neurotic tendencies may be associated only rarely with “psychogenic potency disorders”. Another possible interpretation of this seeming paradox might be that standard psychological tests, although helpful in confirming and quantifying clinical neuroses, in general, may be inappropriate and even misleading in the case of psychogenic potency disorders. According as a working tool, the author set out to develop and define a psychosomatic concept of “coital anxiety” and to examine its clinical relevance and usefulness, especially as a prognastic pointer in male potency disorders.

Disorders of sexual potency in the male: a clinical and statistical study of some factors related to short-term prognosis.

Although the literature relating to the prognosis of male potency disorders and the factors that influence this is vast, there is a dearth of factual data on the subject. Most of the opinions expressed, without supporting figures, are clinical impressions, and the majority indicate that the outcome of therapy in these disorders is generally favourable (Ellis, 1948; Jones, 1919; Rees 1935; Allen, 1962; Stafford-Clark, 1954; Gutheil, 1959). However, Johnson's (1965b) recent important contribution has challenged this consensus; he suggests that; with or without treatment, the prognosis in disordered potency is much worse than has hitherto been believed.

Book Review: Disorders of Sexual Potency in the Male

Book Review: Disorders of Sexual Potency in the Male

Hostility and male potency disorders

Forty-eight male subjects with a “primary” disorder of potency completed the Foulds Hostility Scale and satisfied the “treated” criterion of attending a minimum of 20 fortnightly therapeutic interviews over one year; 36 of their female sexual partners completed the Foulds Hostility Scale. The mean male hostility score for the series as a whole 17.1 and those for the individual clinical sub-groups (acute impotence 17.3, insidious impotence 17.77, impotentia ejaculandi 17.1 and premature ejaculation 16.7) all differ significantly p < 0.01 from “normals.” The group as a whole (mean 1.1) as well as the component clinical subgroups scored slightly “intropunitively.” The mean female hostility level 16.7 differs significantly from “normals.” There was no statistical relationship between male hostility levels and the outcome of therapy; although not quite reaching statistical significance, there was an unmistakable trend for “intropunitiveness” being associated with a more favorable treatment response than “extrapunitiveness.” There was no statistical association between female hostility or its direction and the outcome of therapy in the male.

‘Neurosis’ and disorders of sexual potency in the male

‘Neurosis’ and disorders of sexual potency in the male

A factual study of male potency disorders.

The literature on “psychogenic” potency disorders in the male is vast, and opinions abound on every aspect of these disorders. However, despite this abundance there is a dearth of factual data. The present author has been able to find only two major studies which have set out to study systematically and objectively facets of these conditions. El-Senoussi et al. (1959) undertook a statistical study to delineate psychological factors related causally to impotence; whilst Johnson (1965b) retrospectively studied male potency disorders to define their natural history.

Prognosis of disorders of sexual potency in the male

Prognosis of disorders of sexual potency in the male

Androgyny and disorders of sexual potency.

Androgyny and disorders of sexual potency.