Unreliability of nocturnal penile tumescence recording and MMPI profiles in assessment of impotence

Abstract

The authors describe a multidisciplinary approach to the assessment of impotence that includes the recording of nocturnal penile tumescence and analysis of the patient's MMPI profile. Ten patients were studied who, on the basis of physical and psychiatric assessment, were identified as being organically or psychogenically impotent. In each case, the application of decision rules based on either nocturnal penile tumescence or the MMPI would have led to misdiagnosis.