Effects of sexual arousal on schizophrenics: a comparative test of hypotheses derived from ego psychology and arousal theory.

Two divergent theories make differential predictions with regard to the impact of sexual stimulation on schizophrenics. Relative to normals, psychoanalytic ego psychology predicts greater sexual arousal in schizophrenics, while the arousal theories predict decreased responsiveness. Fourteen chronic nonparanoid schizophrenic outpatient males and 16 normal males participated in a 2X2 mixed factor experiment with one between factor (schizophrenics vs. normals) and one within factor (sexual vs. neutral stimuli). Dependent measures included looking time, associative sexual responses, associative response latencies, and self-report ratings. A significant interaction for looking time provided empirical support for the psychoanalytic ego psychological position, Results suggest that schizophrenics are less defensive than normals in regard to looking at sexual stimuli, theoretically because of ego deficits that adversely affect repression and other mechanisms of defense.