B T Litz — Page 2 | PubMed Health

PubMed1990

Sexual concerns of male spouses of female Alzheimer's disease patients.

Little is known about the impact of dementia on sexuality. The attendant cognitive changes that occur in the Alzheimer's patient present the caregiver with many, often conflicting, challenges to a couple's sexual functioning. This case study highlights these issues by describing a man who reported an erectile dysfunction directly stemming from stressful changes that had occurred in his relationship to his wife who had Alzheimer's disease. General themes and relevant hypotheses are derived and clinical practice implications are explored.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Preliminary investigation of the role of previous exposure to potentially traumatizing events in generalized anxiety disorder.

Theories of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) highlight the relevance of stressful life events to this disorder's etiology. However, little empirical work has addressed the stressful events that may act as historical contributors to the development or maintenance of GAD. The present study provides an initial exploration of the association between exposure to potentially traumatizing events and GAD. In both analogue and clinical samples, GAD individuals were found to be more likely than nonanxious controls to report exposure to a potentially traumatizing event. These findings are discussed within the context of current theories of worry and GAD.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A comparison of subjective and physiological measures of mechanically produced and erotically produced erections (or, is an erection an erection?).

The current investigation explores possible reasons for the poor overall success rates of medical techniques used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. This is the first study to compare directly the psychological impact of a mechanically produced versus an erotically produced erection. Subjective and objective parameters of sexual arousal were used to compare the experience of a mechanically attained erection versus an erotically stimulated erection. Twenty-eight (28) men without sexual dysfunction were asked to reach a full erection during each of the following two conditions: (a) by using an ErecAid System and (b) by self-stimulating while watching an erotic video. The results of this study suggest that the penile vacuum device was a successful method for attaining penile tumescence; however, the presence of penile tumescence was not accompanied by a subjective state of physical or mental sexual arousal. Thus, the mere physical presence of an erection does not seem to evoke bodily or mental feelings of sexual arousal. It is important to note that these findings suggest that attention to the psychosexual components of the individual's sexual experience are critical to the subjective experience of sexual arousal and reflect once again the multimodal response systems involved in sexual arousal. These results suggest that more effective treatment approaches would be based on a clinical strategy that provides instruction both on the technical use of a mechanical device as well as on the importance of creating an appropriate psychosexual environment.

Adolescent↗