Psychological and sexual problems following male sterilization

Abstract

An account is presented of a psychiatric/psychological investigation of 25 men, three years after sterilization. The investigation included a semi-quantitative interview which was recorded on tape, psychological testing independent of this with projective tests (Rorschach and TAT) and completion of a questionnaire. The results of psychological testing were compared with a control group from another investigation. The group of sterilized men was characterized by problems of coping with not only aggressive but also sexual impulses. Five out of the 25 must be considered as being borderline psychotic, one of them was undoubtedly psychotic at the time of sterilization and another developed a reactive psychosis in connection with sterilization. Five further patients had moderately severe nervous symptoms. Considerable accumulation was found in the group of sexual complaints, mainly in the form of premature ejaculation as compared with the findings concerning sexual difficulties in investigations in general practice. A surprising finding was that two of the sexual partners at the time of sterilization were sterilized or hysterectomized respectively.