A study of psychosomatic medicine in sexuality of menopausal women

I examined 356 cases of menopausal women who I treated in our psychosomatic outpatient clinic for a period of twenty years. I) The incidence of a decr ease in sexual desire was 58% in the menopausal women. 2) The incidence of sexless couples was 25% by the age of fifty and 80% by the age of sixty. 3) However 27% of the patients who complained of sexual disturbances were bet ween the ages of fifty and sixty. 4) Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was given to 65% of the menopausal women and as a result of this their prognose s were better than the women in other therapy groups (P<0.01). 5) The progn oses of psychosomatic patients with HRT were especially better than those w ithout HRT (P<0.01). 6) Genitalial problems were the most common somatic sy mptoms. The psychological factors observed were related to feelings of lone liness, attitudes towards the value of life and family relationships. In co nclusion, it was clearly shown that sexuality was of great importance for m enopausal women.