Page:Psychopathia Sexualis (tr. Chaddock, 1892).djvu/363

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THERAPY.
345


of healthy grandparents; of a healthy father, but of a nervous mother. He is an only child, and was petted by his mother. At the age of eight he was powerfully excited sexually by a male servant, who showed him pornographic pictures and his penis.

When twelve years old, Z. fell in love with his tutor. On going to sleep, the naked form of this man appeared before him. He thought of himself as in a female rôle in relation to him, and thought to marry him some time.

At the age of thirteen, at a private ball, his fancy was excited by a young governess, and, at fifteen, he fell in love with a young lady. He remained very excitable sensually; but, thereafter, exclusively so to men pleasing to him. Masturbation was not practiced.

At the age of twenty the patient became neurasthenic (ex abstinentia?). He now attempted coitus, but was not successful. On the other hand, he had intense desire on an occasion when he saw a naked man in a steam-bath. The latter noticed his excitement, approached him, and performed masturbation on him, giving the patient intense delight. He felt powerfully attracted to this man, and, thereafter, allowed him to repeat the act. In the meantime, there were attempts at coitus with females, which always ended in a fiasco. The patient was much troubled by this, and consulted physicians, who explained his impotence as due to nervousness, and thought that it would soon pass off.

Until his twenty-fifth year his sexual indulgence consisted of masturbation by the beloved man about once a month. At this time he last felt attracted to a woman. It was to a young peasant-girl. She would not accede to his wishes. Since his lover was also unattainable, the patient began to masturbate alone. With this, his neurasthenia increased. For this reason he was unable to finish his studies; he became shy, dysthymic, abulic, and now vainly tried cures at various hydropathic establishments. On account of continued severe (cerebro-spinal) neurasthenia, the patient came to me for advice, in the latter part of February, 1890.

A tall, slim man, of aristocratic and decidedly masculine manners. Neuropathic appearance; large ears, the lobes of which run into and lose themselves in the skin of the cheeks. Genitals perfectly normal. The usual picture of cerebro-spinal neurasthenia of moderate degree. Great depression; complaint of being dissatisfied with life, even to tædium vitæ; he is pained by his sexual anomaly, especially because he is urged by his family to marry.

He is interested in women only mentally, not physically. Sexually, his only interest is in men of distinction. His dreams have never been about persons of the opposite sex, but of those of his own sex. In these lascivious dreams he has always seen himself in the rôle of a woman.

The most refined woman has never been able to induce erection or even libido in him.