Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 21, 2026

Assessment of Perigenital Sensitivity and Prostatic Mast Cell Activation in a Mouse Model of Neonatal Maternal Separation
Published on: August 13, 2015
Psychosexual development in adolescents with chronic medical illnesses
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California 94305, USA.
Abstract:
The author provides a literature review and developmental formulation, with the goal to assist clinicians working with medically ill adolescents with psychosexual issues. MEDLINE and PsychINFO database searches of English-language medical journal articles published between 1986 and 1997 for articles related to medical illness and psychosexual development in adolescence were done. The author found that little systematic research on the psychosexual implications of medical illnesses for adolescents has been undertaken, but existing studies suggest that psychosexual development is negatively affected by medical illness. A three-phase model of adolescent psychosexual development is presented, with specific psychosexual tasks associated with each phase. Impediments to progressing through adolescent psychosexual phases due to medical conditions are identified, and case examples are provided. The author concludes that clinicians working with adolescents with medical conditions should attend to the possibility of psychosexual impediments in these adolescents and use developmentally appropriate methods for assessing and treating these difficulties when they arise.
Related Concept Videos
Classification of Illness
An illness is a response to a disease in which the person's level of functioning is changed compared with a previous level. The general classification of illness includes acute and chronic.
Acute illness is severe and...
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Phallic
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Latency
The latency period is not considered...
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Genital
Psychosexual Theory of Development
The Five Stages of Psychosexual Development
Freud's psychosexual...
Erikson's Theory on Socioemotional Development during Adolescence

