- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- 4.7.1 Generalized anxiety disorders
- 4.7.2 Social anxiety disorder and specific phobias
- 4.7.3 Panic disorder and agoraphobia
- 4.8 Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 4.9 Depersonalization disorder
- 4.10 Disorders of eating
- 4.11 Sexuality, gender identity, and their disorders
- 4.11.1 Normal sexual function
- 4.11.2 The sexual dysfunctions
- 4.11.3 The paraphilias
- 4.11.4 Gender identity disorder in adults
- 4.12 Personality disorders
- 4.13 Habit and impulse control disorder
- 4.14 Sleep–wake disorders
- 4.15 Suicide
- 4.16 Culture-related specific psychiatric syndromes
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Normal sexual function
- Chapter:
- Normal sexual function
- Author(s):
Roy J. Levin
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0104
Normal human sexual function can be characterized simply by its biological mechanisms which are of obvious importance, not least to reproduction. The mechanisms have changed little over the centuries, but their expression as behaviour, when moulded by historical time, social class, ethnic grouping, religion, and society, creates the changing complex concept of human sexuality. Indeed, it has been said that human sexuality is more about fertilizing relationships than eggs! While we have increased hugely our knowledge about many of the mechanisms involved in human sexuality, the impact of a highly successful oral therapy for erectile dysfunction being an obvious example, those of the brain and spinal cord are practically unexplored. What creates human sexual desire and sexual excitement and what causes them to fade away, where in the brain is the pleasure of orgasms created, why do men have a PERT but not women, are just a few of the fascinating questions that remain to be answered.
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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- 4.7.1 Generalized anxiety disorders
- 4.7.2 Social anxiety disorder and specific phobias
- 4.7.3 Panic disorder and agoraphobia
- 4.8 Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 4.9 Depersonalization disorder
- 4.10 Disorders of eating
- 4.11 Sexuality, gender identity, and their disorders
- 4.11.1 Normal sexual function
- 4.11.2 The sexual dysfunctions
- 4.11.3 The paraphilias
- 4.11.4 Gender identity disorder in adults
- 4.12 Personality disorders
- 4.13 Habit and impulse control disorder
- 4.14 Sleep–wake disorders
- 4.15 Suicide
- 4.16 Culture-related specific psychiatric syndromes
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry