Psychosis and societal prescriptions of gender; a study of 174 inpatients

摘要

This study aims to confirm and explore the clinical observation that homosexuality is a male, whereas sexual immorality a female theme of psychosis. The case histories of 174 psychotic inpatients of both sexes were examined in a retrospective cross-sectional study. Using the Fisher exact test for the analysis, it was found that significantly more men (18.3%) than women (1.4%) exhibited symptoms whose theme was being accused of/ forced to homosexuality, and significantly more women (15.7%) than men (0%) exhibited symptoms whose theme was being accused of/forced to sexual immorality. Among all demographic characteristics, only patient's sex predicted the occurrence of the above themes. In total, 17.8% of the patients in this study exhibited positive psychotic symptoms with themes relevant to the societal prescriptions of gender, homosexuality (also perceived as calling masculinity into question) being a male and sexual immorality a female theme of psychosis. The findings of this study are in agreement with the anthropological and psychological literature on gender issues and should be considered in the psychotherapeutic approach of psychotic patients. They also contribute to the understanding and more accurate description of psychotic symptoms.