The Emotional Impact of Erectile Dysfunction
Men experiencing erectile dysfunction may be having difficulty having an erection or maintaining it long enough to fully participate in sexual activity. This inability to perform can lead to emotional turmoil within the man and with any close relationship he is a part of. Sexual life is vital to having a close, intimate relationship. Suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) can destroy the man’s self-confidence, can cause his partner to feel insecure and can add to a relationship that may already be strained, leading to unhappiness.
Erectile dysfunction can have physical causes, psychological causes or a combination of both. Physical causes include vascular, neurological or hormonal imbalances as well as physical defects of the penis.
Some simple ways to determine if there is a good chance the cause may be physical depends on the answers to the following questions:
When masturbating, do you get an erection?
Do you or your partner notice if you get erections while you are sleeping?
If you have multiple sexual partners, do you get erections with one but not another?
Is there erection before penetration?
If any of the above questions can be answered with a yes, than the cause of your ED is most likely emotional/psychological and not physical however it is still important to have a medical exam to be sure.
The three most common emotional factors involved in ED are: high levels of stress, being unhappy with your sexual partner and anxiety over your sexual performance.
Men can obsess over their performance, which can lead to more obsession and focus on the act, which puts pressure on to perform. Men tend to worry about their performance during sex and when they focus on their performance, they tend to escalate the worry factor until it then impacts their performance in a negative way. A short-term issue just may become a long-term problem spurred on by the obsession.
The National Institute of Digestive and Kidney Diseases, has done some research on ED, and reports that it increases as men age with about 18.4% of all men reporting in the study that they either “sometimes” or are “never” able to get or keep an erection during a sexual encounter. Based on this statistic, you are not alone. Physical or emotional cause doesn’t seem to matter much when it is happening to you. You just want the problem to go away. Determining the cause is important when it comes to making it go away though.
The emotional impact of erectile dysfunction can occur after the fact or as the cause. Emotions can run deep for both partners because the problem is connected to an intimate matter between two involved individuals. Communication is important when dealing with the emotional issues that erectile dysfunction brings to the surface. Psychological counseling may help some couples to learn better ways of communicating with each other about how they feel and what they are thinking. Your doctor can help you locate a good psychologist experienced in dealing with the emotional aspects of erectile dysfunction.
Bite the bullet, take the leap, make an appointment with your doctor and discover the cause, so you can be that much closer to enjoying sex again.
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