Residents of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital are not allowed to have sex while on admission and there are no plans to give them such privileges, according to the Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei.

He also denied in an interview with The Mirror that sexual activity among residents at the hospital was increasing, leading to the introduction of family planning measures. He said that some of the drugs given to mental patients could heighten their sexual yearning but was quick to add that some of the medicines also tended to reduce the patients’ sexual drive.

“Though some patients may have sexual desires, which is a normal physiological need, the psychiatric hospital has no provisions on conjugal rights, thus we do not have any intentions to make it possible for patients to bring in their partners for sexual activities and I do not think that would be necessary,” he said.

“If some sneak out once in a while to engage in sex and return to the wards I am not aware. I am also not aware that there are increased sexual activities among the patients here."

However, Dr Osei admitted that one female patient had recently become pregnant while on admission but could not tell whether she took seed inside or outside the hospital.

When asked whether it was safe for patients of the opposite sex to live among sexually charged individuals who have mental problems, Dr Osei explained that though people may have mental challenges, they could function perfectly in many respects including sexual behaviour.

“Why is it that people who may be considered mentally ill are able to avoid danger on the roads by running away when they see a vehicle speeding towards them,” he queried.

A senior psychiatric nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity, corroborated the assertion that some drugs made some patients feel sexy but also denied reports of increased sexual activities among patients. He also failed to comment on the family planning initiative allegedly taken by the hospital.

“In fact, for some of them when they cannot bear the sexual pressure any longer they subtly come to ask to be discharged from the hospital," the nurse said.

“I have a wife/husband at home and I cannot stay away from them for so long, some of them may say. When they make this particular request frequently some of us are able to see that they are sexually starved."

He said it was because of such needs that mental health professionals were advocating community care for patients so that they could have their families and friends around them to help speed up the healing process.

“The healing process can never be completed at the psychiatric hospital. The patients must go back to their regular environments and go through life out there for us to see if they are okay,” the nurse pointed out.

Dr D. O. Clayton and Dr W. W. Shen of the Department of Psychiatry, St Louis University School of Medicine, Missouri USA have suggested that there is more than anecdotal evidence that psychotropic drugs (medicines used to treat psychiatric conditions) can induce sexual function disorders in the epidemiologically (health conditions) vulnerable population of psychiatric patients.

Sexual dysfunctions caused by psychotropic drugs can be divided into two groups: sexual inhibition (inhibited desire, inhibited arousal and inhibited orgasm) and increased sexual function disorders (increased sexual desire, priapism and premature ejaculation).

They said the diagnosis of psychotropic drug-induced sexual function disorders is easy if the psychiatrist is sensitive to the existence of these adverse effects. Diagnosis is usually established if the sexual function disorders develop when the patient is receiving a psychotropic drug and then disappear when the drug is discontinued.