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A Preliminary Paper

MYRON HERMAN, M.D.

Arch Neurol Psychiatry. 1950;64(1):42-56.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THE IMMEDIATE goal of the sexual urge in the male is the discharge of seminal fluid, the ejaculation.¹ It is effected through reflex mechanisms. However, before it occurs there is a period of varying extent during which he perceives a series of sensations and increased excitability in both the somatic and the psychologic sphere. The somatic manifestations are mediated through the autonomic and central nervous systems and are present as penile erection, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, deepened respiration and flushed facies. The psychologic reactions are experienced as specific pleasure and accompanying specific displeasure, or tension. As the tension becomes more acute, the degree of excitation increases. It is a unique feeling of pleasure, as well as prevailing discomfort, which demands relief in the ejaculation.

This combination of somatic and psychologic reactions will henceforth be referred to as "sexual excitation."

In the normal male the initiation of sexual . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
NEW YORK

From the Neurological Institute of New York.