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A questionnaire sent out by a publishing company to obtain opinions of psychiatrists concerning nudism and its beneficial effects was the stimulus for the paper. The book was published and numerous psychiatrists and psychologists were quoted as endorsing the educational benefits and therapeutic effects of nudism.
The author makes general observations on the effects claimed for nudism in neurotic disturbances and especially sexual difficulties.
One of the author's patients, a nudist, became depressed and panicky when she read about a raid on another nudist colony, and for this reason she had to come to analysis. Another case concerns a brother and sister who had for years taken exercises, baths and spent their summer vacations nude with their mother, also a nudist. They developed neurotic difficulties and conflicts concerning their masturbatory activities.
The roots of the development of exhibitionism and scotophilia in general are discussed. A special emphasis is laid upon the earliest sources in childhood curiosities about sexual differences and childbirth. The strong exhibitionistic and scoptophilic tendencies and their connection with the Oedipus conflict and castration complex in the cases cited are discussed.