Psychological characteristics of males with secondary erectile failure.

This study was designed to obtain objective data on the personality profiles of two groups of males with a primary complaint of erectile failure and compare them to a group of psychiatric patients unselected for sexual dysfunction and to a sexually "normal" control group. Utilizing the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the Institute of Personality and Ability Testing Anxiety Scale, Symptom Checklist, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, it was determined that males applying to a university/county hospital sex-dysfunction clinic appeared similar to patients seen in the same clinic who were unselected for sex dysfunction and more psychologically disturbed than patients with the same complaint applying for treatment at a private clinic. All three groups showed more psychopathology than sexually normal males. The implications of these findings are discussed.