[Empirical studies of sexual behavior of psychotic patients--a review]

The review is based upon the observation that the topic of sexuality so far seems to be underrepresented in psychiatric research and practice. The present empirical studies concerning aspects of sexual behavior and experiences of patients with affective and schizophrenic psychoses are summarized in this paper. First, studies related on characteristics of the premorbid sexual behavior of the patient groups are considered. A summary of investigations concerning changes in the sexual life due to the psychiatric illness is divided into results on the changes in the frequency of sexual activities and changes in sexual appetence, results on sexual deviant acts, on sexual activities of psychiatric inpatients, and results on sexual orientation, especially for patients with paranoid symptoms. The review ends with a report of the most important results concerning characteristics of the sexuality specific for the disease and results on the frequency of sexual dysfunctions in different groups of patients. As the review shows, our knowledge about the sexual life of psychiatric patients so far seems very incomplete. More thoroughly performed empirical studies will help to counteract the distribution of stereotypic beliefs.