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Our understanding of the role of sex in neuroses has grown with the development of our theory. Three basic steps, characteristic of our entire modern view of nature and man, had to be taken to provide us with the most constructive approach to this problem.
The old, compartmentalizing method which in biology as well as in psychology, separated body and mind, and special functions from the total function, and which attempted to explain the whole on the basis of its parts, had to be replaced by the holistic approach. This approach sees the organism as a whole whose partial functions—for example, sex—are determined by its total function. The individual is seen as an integrated mind-body unit, which in turn forms a part of the greater unit: the surrounding culture.
It was the development of the medical specialities themselves which led to the constructive emphasis on the organism as a whole. On the somatic side, physiology, neurology and endocrinology today stress the integrating function of homoeostatic mechanisms of the autonomous nervous and hormonal systems. On the psychological side, the limited method of symptomatic diagnosis and therapy has been superseded by analysis of the total character structure. The holistic approach is particularly necessary in dealing with the problem of sex which, in addition to the genital end organ on the periphery, involves the endocrine, the vascular and the nervous systems. The integrated functioning of these systems is determined by the total personality. Just recently a leading biologist, Prof. Frank A. Beach of Yale University, supported the correctness of this approach. As a result of extensive research, he stated: While the sexual behavior of lower animals is determined exclusively by hormones, sexual behavior in man is relatively independent of hormonal influences. Experiences and emotions, which often strongly influence the hormonal level and the hormonal functions, take the decisive place.
The static, mechanistic concept of phys