Sexual functioning of patients with a severe psychotic illness such as schizophrenia has received little attention from clinicians. Sexual dysfunctions are an important contributing factor to a poor quality of life in this population and important factor in non-adherence to pharmacological treatment. A high percentage of individuals with schizophrenia reported to have no sexual intercourse or showed evidence of sexual dysfunction (28%; to 40%; in females and 40%; to 60%; in males), which has different etiology, like the illness itself (12%; to 15%;), aging (35%; to 41%;), or side effects from the psychiatric medication (26%; to 36%;). We alert about this problems and show the preliminary results of a survey in an adult chronic population (ranging between 27 to 57 years of age, with an equal sex distribution, attending in a psychiatric rehabilitation program in a half-way house.
Results: a 36%; of the patients reported to have sexual difficulties, the 50%; of the sample has had sexual intercourse with some regularity, only the 32%; of the sample reported to have sex in the last month, and less than a 5%; of this population reported to have a regular partner, among others suggestions of sexual dysfunction.