Sexual problems in arthritis and allied conditions

There is need for a greater readiness among the medical and paramedical professions to recognize the widespread occurrence of sexual problems in patients with arthritis and allied conditions. Sexual image, sexual drive, sexual competence, sexual expression, and sexual opportunity may all be adversely affected by the onset of arthritis, the type and degree of effect depending on the nature, severity, and duration of the disease and on the social and marital state of the patient. Single patients may have difficulty in forming stable sexual relationships and married patients in creating a mutually satisfying pattern of sexual expression. The physical and psychological state of patient and partner and the medication of both need careful consideration to determine contributory causes to the individual problem-complex of each patient. Based on the experience of 12 years' sexual counselling at a disabled living unit and an orthopaedic hospital, and of 4 years at a weekly clinic for disable people with sexual problems, the causes and means of amelioration of these problems are discussed.