Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:15:09.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Drug Dependence and Sexual Dysfunction: A Comparison of Intravenous Users of Narcotics and Oral Users of Amphetamines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. R. Gossop ,
R. Stern  and
P. H. Connell
M. R. Gossop
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, London SE5 8AZ
R. Stern
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, London SE5 8AZ
P. H. Connell
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, London SE5 8AZ
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Diminished sexual activity among individuals dependent upon the opiate drugs (heroin, morphine, methadone, etc.) has been noted by Freedman (1967) and by Jurgensen (1966). A study of four populations of male patients (controls, abstainers, heroin addicts and patients maintained on methadone), suggested that although factors other than the specific drug effects may be important determinants of sexual difficulties, that the drug itself may act as a specific determinant (Cushman, 1972). This was supported by the fact that all patients claimed to have been normal before narcotic use, that heroin reduced sexual performance and desire, and that a reversal to normal sexual function rapidly occurred during enforced withdrawal. Other observations by Ding (1972), and Scher (1967) support these findings. Berzins et al. (1971), and Mott (1972) have noted that drug-dependent subjects tend to have problems of sexual identity, and Hobi (1972) suggests that psychosexual immaturity is frequently seen in drug-dependent subjects.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 124 , Issue 582 , May 1974 , pp. 431 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ball, J. (1967). ‘The reliability and validity of interview data obtained from 59 narcotic drug addicts.’ American Journal of Sociology, 72, 350–54.Google ScholarPubMed
Bell, D. S., and Trethowan, W. H. (1961). ‘Amphetamine addiction and disturbed sexuality.’ Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 74–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berzins, J., Ross, W., and Monroe, J. (1971). ‘A multivariate study of the personality characteristics of hospitalised narcotic addicts on the M.M.P.I.’ Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27, 174–81.3.0.CO;2-3>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, P. H. (1958). Amphetamine Psychosis. London.Google Scholar
Connell, P. H. (1970). ‘Clinical aspects of drug addiction.’ Journal of the Royal College of Physicians, 4, 254–63.Google ScholarPubMed
Cushman, P. (1972). ‘Sexual behaviour in heroin addiction and methadone maintenance.’ New York State Journal of Medicine, 72, 1261–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Cushman, P., Bordier, B., and Hilton, J. G. (1970). ‘Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in methadone-treated heroin addicts.’ Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 30, 24–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ding, L. K. (1972). ‘The role of sex in narcotic addiction in Hong Kong.’ Asian Journal of Medicine, 8, 119–21.Google Scholar
D'Orban, P. T. (1970). ‘Heroin dependence and delinquency in women—a study of heroin addicts in Holloway prison.’ British Journal of Addiction, 65, 67.Google ScholarPubMed
Freedman, A. (1967). ‘Psychopharmacological approaches to narcotic addiction’, in Neuropsychopharmacology (eds. Brill, , Cole, , Deniker, , Hippius, and Bradley, ). New York.Google Scholar
Gibbens, T. C. N. (1971). ‘Female offenders.’ British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 6, 279–86.Google Scholar
Gordon, A. (1973). ‘Patterns of delinquency in drug addiction.’ British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 205–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hobi, V. (1972). ‘Drug addicts as seen in Szondi's test.’ Praxis der Psychotherapie, 17, 54–65.Google Scholar
Jurgensen, W. (1966). ‘Problems of inpatient treatment of addiction.’ International Journal of the Addictions, 1, 62–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendelson, J. H., Mendelson, J. E., and Patch, V. D. (in press). ‘Plasma testosterone levels in heroin addiction and during methadone maintenance.’ Science. Google Scholar
Mott, J. (1972). ‘The psychological basis of drug addiction: the intellectual and personality characteristics of opiate users.’ British Journal of Addiction, 67, 89–99.Google ScholarPubMed
Scher, J. (1967). ‘Patterns and profiles of addiction and drug abuse.’ International Journal of the Addictions, 2, 171–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stenback, A., Holmstedt, Y., and Teigen, A. (1971). ‘Narkomani.’ Nordisk Medicin, 7, 29–31.Google Scholar
Teasdale, J. (1972). ‘The perceived effect of heroin on the interpersonal behaviour of heroin-dependent patients, and a comparison with stimulant-dependent patients.’ International Journal of the Addictions, 7, 533–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.