A PILOT-STUDY OF A STRUCTURED INTERVIEW ADDRESSING SEXUAL FUNCTION INMEN WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Twenty physically healthy men with schizophrenia responded to a 15-ite m questionnaire inquiring about their usual and their present (on medi cations) sexual functioning. Two summary measures of present impairmen t (the average of items 7-13 that detail the patients' specific compla ints of impairment, and item 15, the interviewer's global judgment of impairment) were significantly correlated with each other and with the differences between usual and present reported frequencies of erectio n and masturbation. More severe impairment on these summary measures w as significantly associated with greater biological evidence of dopami ne blockade (more severe extrapyramidal side effects and higher serum prolactin levels).