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‘No sex please, we're British’

Taking a sexual history from in-patients

Department of Psychiatry, Mapperley Hospital, Porchester Rd, Nottingham NG3 6AA

^* Correspondence

The case notes of 100 consecutive admissions to a general adult psychiatry service revealed that no sexual history was recorded in 73 cases. Only one patient had a detailed sexual history taken. In 22 cases the sex history was limited to a single mention of ‘reduced libido’ and in another four cases a brief explanation was done. Sexual side-effects of medication were not explored in any case. Sex history was more likely to be recorded when the doctor and patient were of the same sex; in cases with a history of sexual abuse or relationship problems; and where psychopathology had a sexual content.