Sexual Life and Associated Factors in Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

This descriptive and cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the specific factors that influence the sex lives of psychiatric patients. The study sample consisted of patients who received care in the psychiatry department of a university hospital (N = 200). Data were collected using a questionnaire developed according to information available in the literature and the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. The mean age of the patients in the study was 36.70 +/- 10.34 years. Additionally, 58% (n = 116) of the patients were female, and 42% (n = 84) were male. The diagnostic composition of the sample was 25% of patients with schizophrenia, 25% with bipolar disorder, 25% with depression, and 25% with anxiety disorder. More than half of the patients (57.5%) expressed that they had a reduced sex drive compared to their predisease condition, and 39% of the patients claimed that their treatment contributed to their reduced sexual drive. Moreover, 30.5% of the patients expressed that they had no knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases. Utilizing the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale, sexual dysfunction was observed in 74% (n = 144) of the patients. The incidence of sexual dysfunction in people diagnosed with schizophrenia was found to besignificantly higher than that of the patients in other diagnosis groups (p = h0, 002**).