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Effects of sexual arousal on schizophrenics: A comparative test of hypotheses derived from ego psychology and arousal theory
Author(s) -
Berardi Anthony L.,
Garske John P.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(197701)33:1+<105::aid-jclp2270330121>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - sexual arousal , psychology , arousal , id, ego and super ego , psychoanalytic theory , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , psychotherapist
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 2 × 2 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.