Issues in the use of psychophysiology to assess female sexual dysfunction.

The viability of psychophysiology as an assessment approach for female sexual function and dysfunction revolves around physiological measurement issues, subjective measurement issues, and the nature of the sexual difficulty. Recent data are presented and discussed as are the potentials and limitations inherent in a psychophysiological study of human sexuality. A case is made for the use of vaginal pressure pulse as a primary measure, vaginal blood volume as a secondary measure, correlations between subjective and objective measures of sexual arousal, and intercorrelations between various subjective affect scales.