Abstract
The author examined 402 cases of menopausal women whom he treated in our psychosomatic outpatient clinic for a period of twenty years. The results were summarized as follows : 1) The incidence of a decrease in sexual desire was 58% on 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 those at 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 prognoses were better than the women in other therapy groups (p<0.01). 5) The prognoses of psychosomatic patients with HRT were especially better than those without HRT (p<0.01). 6) A symptom of genitalia was most frequently found among their somatic symptoms. And the psychological factors observed were related to feelings of loneliness, attitudes towards the value of life and family relationships. In conclusion, it was clearly shown that sexuality was of great importance for menopausal women.
