Post-traumatic stress syndrome and sexual dysfunction

There recently has been a tremendous amount of literature concerning post-traumatic stress disorder in both the scientific and the lay literature. However, with all the interest, and all the material that has been generated, symptoms of sexual dysfunction, which may be present in a significant number of patients suffering from this disorder, have not been included in the diagnostic criteria or clinical descriptions. While working with Vietnam veterans who possessed the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder during 1984 at a New York area Veteran's Administration Hospital, it became apparent that many of these men suffered from erectile difficulties. While these observations are by no means epidemiologically significant, they do suggest that the sexual status of this patient population deserves investigation.