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There are a number of neurotic disorders of sexual functioning, which though not perversions are usually discussed in connection with them. Among these are the phenomena of hyposexuality and hypersexuality in persons who compared with the normal appear to have either too weak or too strong a sexual impulse. Obviously such cases may be purely organic in nature, the result of somatic endocrine disorder. However, it is quite often evident that the anomaly only appears to be organic and is actually due to psychological factors. This latter type of pseudo hyposexuality or pseudo hypersexuality will be the topic of our present discussion.
Hyposexuality is frequently a pretense due to a gross confusion of genitality and sexuality in general. Persons ostensibly deficient in sexual desire are those whose libido runs along other than genital channels. In the final analysis all neurotic persons are disturbed by an inhibited sexuality, inhibited because of its unconscious infantile meaning—and by the displacement of their libido. This outcome affects only part of the libido, a part, however, which must be sufficiently large to maintain the existence of the neurotic symptoms, yet may be sufficiently small to let the patient's sexual life appear undisturbed and allow him to feel subjectively that it is satisfactory. However, in most cases the amount of this libido is larger. Reich pointed out quite convincingly how rarely neurotic persons combine the presence of neurotic symptoms with a normal sexual life, and how often even these rare cases are finally found to have an only apparently normal sexual life,