[Impotence caused by non-organic causes. Psychological diagnosis and psychotherapeutic treatment methods]

Male sexual incompetence as well as every other human sexual behavior is a product of learning experiences. Psychological diagnosis has to discover the conditioning mechanisms which affect normal sexual behavior and produce emotional inhibitions. Those are not only represented by real events but can also exist only in the imagination of the patient as an "internal dialogue". Psychological therapy of male sexual incompetence contains elements of various therapeutic approaches as client-centered and communicational therapy, behavior modification techniques as systematic desensitization and assertive training. Sometimes a therapeutic program using the techniques of Masters and Johnson is useful. A brief case study is given to demonstrate the integrative approach to male sexual dysfunctions.