Analgesic Effect of Masturbation:  Masturbation As a Clinical Sign of Painful Somatic Disorders in Psychotic Patients: Report of Two Cases

Two previous articles by the author have demonstrated that a large proportion of psychotic patients offer no complaint when beset by physical ailments. While this may be only too obviously so in regard to numerous minor disorders, it nevertheless also holds true for major illnesses, including those in which the onset is usually both dramatically sudden and painful.^1,2 In psychotic patients chronic physical disorders and those with insidious onset are most frequently detected by routine yearly physical and laboratory examinations or by the discovery of weight loss. Acute medical and surgical disorders on the other hand are most frequently discovered by signs of altered physiological function which present clinically as weak-spell, staggering gait, syncope, dyspnea, vomiting, cyanosis, and jaundice; or by changes in behavior and in physical activity. Such changes may be the refusal to speak, eat, or walk, a request to stop taking part