[Psychological impact of erectile dysfunction on self-esteem and self-confidence].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Erectile dysfunction (ED) is caused by a large range of organic, psychological, psychiatric, interpersonal and pharmacological factors. Numerous scientific publications mention the loss of self-esteem as a collateral effect of ED, with a very probable affectation of the subject's self-confidence. The objective of this study was to evaluate the self-esteem and self-confidence of subjects with ED and to compare them with a group of non-ED subjects. SUBJECTS AND METHOD An epidemiological, cross-sectional, observational, comparative and multicentric study was conducted. General Practitioners selected 405 men older than 18 years in which they suspected ED. All the participants had to complete the self administered form of the Spanish version of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the Spanish culturally adapted version of the Johnson and McCoy self-confidence scale. After that, patients were referred to the urologist in order to confirm the ED diagnosis. RESULTS The statistical analysis of the data showed that the subjects with ED obtained significantly lower scores in the self-confidence and self-esteem scales than the non-ED subjects (p < 0.01). DISCUSSION The results of this study show the loss of self-confidence and self-esteem that suffer patients with ED.