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Psychoanalysts, perhaps more than any other group of investigators, are wary of attempting to define standards of normality because they recognize the pitfalls that attend such an endeavor. Nevertheless, in setting up aims of analytic therapy and in assessing the results, they are compelled to erect some concept of normality as a measuring rod. Thus it is generally agreed that one of the goals of analytic therapy is the attainment of full sexual potency as an indication of maturity in the process of psychosexual development. This much seems reasonable and satisfactory. Difficulty arises, however, when one inquires what constitutes full sexual potency and finds that confusion exists in this area. One investigator prescribes a certain number of coital thrusts, another specifies a minimum and a maximum duration if coitus is to be considered normal, while others take exception to these rigid limitations. This paper is limited to consideration of the phenomenon of fleeting loss of consciousness during orgasm which, in the opinion of some, is a sine qua non of complete sexual potency.
It may be a matter of surprise to many to learn that no lesser an authority than Freud lends weight to this thesis. He writes: 'The loss of consciousness, the "absence" of the hysterical attack, is derived from the fleeting but unmistakable loss of consciousness [Bewusstseinsentgang] which can be observed at the climax of every intensive (also autoerotic) sexual gratification' (1). Freud does not elaborate on this statement nor does he indicate how ample the material is on which this sweeping generalization rests; he makes it in the manner of an obiter dictum, an incidental comment, that must readily be apparent to all. It is the only reference to the subject that I am able