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In Reply: The ability to achieve a firm erection under nonsexual circumstances strongly suggests a psychogenic etiology for erectile dysfunction because it indicates intact vascular mechanisms within the corpora cavernosa.¹ When this history is lacking, nocturnal rigidity testing can also be a useful test to identify psychogenic erectile dysfunction because men lack awareness of their sleep erections and these therefore cannot be compromised by anxiety. The "stamp test" (wrapping the penis at bedtime with a roll of 1-cent stamps, and determining if the roll was broken in the morning, indicating an erection had occurred) was used for many years, but lacks reliability because the test may falsely indicate that an erection had occurred when there may have been only partial or brief rigidity. The value of diagnosing psychogenic erectile dysfunction is that clinicians may then offer nonpharmaceutical treatments, such as psychotherapy or counseling. However, many men will reject any suggestion . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Abraham Morgentaler, MD
amorgent@yahoo.com
Department of Surgery (Urology)
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Mass

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