ABSTRACT

This chapter proposes to make some qualifications and comments on Karl Abraham's theory that ejaculatio praecox is attributable to excessive erogenicity of the urethra and fixation of the libido on micturition. It also proposes to precede the author's remarks by a critical summary of the etiological factors and syndromes which the Abraham regards as essential components of the pathogenesis and clinical picture of the illness. An important factor in the case is that the patient never suffered from ejaculatio praecox in his marriage, but only in his adulterous excursions, and then only during the first coitus; the second always took place normally. The practices by which patients try to prevent premature ejaculation show the importance of masturbatory phantasy, of "anticipation", in the explanation of the phenomenon. One of the principal symptoms of the "inability to wait", or "waiting weakness", is the involuntary emissions, particularly the frequent ones, from which all these patients suffer.