Psychological aspects of erectile dysfunction

Background: In the past 20 years advances in medical knowledge have led to impressive improvements in the assessment and therapy or erectile dysfunctions. The psychosocial dimensions of this disorder have been paid much less attention. Objective: To what extent are the assumed psychological factors involved in the development and maintenance of impotence empirically proven? Methods: Literature about clinical and epidemiological studies as well as psychophysiological experiments were analyzed. Results: In research the detailed analyses of psychosocial aspects of impotence have so far been paid little attention. The process of proving the assumptions underlying sexual psychotherapy empirically is still at its beginning. Conclusions: It seems particularly necessary to develop psychometric instruments for the measurement of psychological aspects of impotence.