5 Psychological Causes Of ED: When Erectile Dysfunction Isn’t From A Physical Issue – Introduction
Erectile dysfunction is one of the world’s most prevalent disorders in men. It is the failure to produce or sustain an erection that allows for sexual intercourse. Age, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are well-known physical causes of this syndrome. But there are psychological causes of the condition and they account for as much as 20% of all cases of the condition. This article aims to provide insight on five psychological causes of ED, where the condition does not stem from physical reason.
1. Anxiety and Stress
Anxiety and stress are the most common psychological factors that drive ED. When a man is stressed or anxious, it blocks the brain’s communication with the body to cause an erection. This is because the body’s fight or flight response can reduce blood supply to the penis and pull the muscles tighter, rendering an erection impossible. Performance anxiety is another contributor to ED, where the fear of performing sexually is self-fulfilling.
2. Depression
Another big psychological contributor to ED is depression. The depression rate for men with ED can range from 10-20%. Depression influences sexual function in a number of ways, including decreased libido, difficulty in having an orgasm, and ED. It is not clear how depression leads to ED, but we suspect that it has to do with the way depression affects the brain’s neurotransmitter networks involved in sexual arousal. ED is also related to drugs used to treat depression, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
3. Relationship Issues
ED is often the psychological root of relationship issues. Couples can have difficulties communicating, trusting or feeling distant and can experience sexual dysfunction. These are some of the relationship-related triggers of ED:
a. Not Communicating: Communication is the key to a good sex relationship. When partners don’t share what they want, fear, and care about, it can create confusion, resentment, and ED.
b. Performance Anxiety: ED can cause men to suffer from performance anxiety when under pressure to please their partners. Such anxiety can be rooted in past experiences, social pressure or failure.
c. Unfaithfulness: Unfaithfulness leads to ED due to poor trust. A breach of trust can make us feel insecure, causing us to lose sexual appetite and activity.
d. Feeling Distanciation: Couples can experience ED when they feel distanced. Emotional distance can interfere with sexuality, resulting in ED when partners don’t feel the connection.
e. Antagonism: Continuous antagonism or unresolved issues also contribute to ED. The tensions and stressors of conflict can influence a man’s ability to get and keep an erection.
4. Performance Pressure
Our culture pressures men heavily to have sex. This is perhaps most apparent among younger men who feel under pressure to achieve manliness and masculinity. That stress can cause anxiety and stress, which can, as discussed above, lead to ED. Furthermore, pornography and other media that depict unrealistic and overblown sexual acts can foster unrealistic expectations and make performers feel under pressure.
5. Past Trauma
Other psychopathological causes of ED include trauma. ED can result from sexual, physical or combat trauma. Following are a few examples of how ED can be the result of trauma:
a. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): PTSD is a major ED risk factor. PTSD can create flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive thoughts in men who develop anxiety, depression and ED.
b. Sexual abuse: Males who have had sexual abuse may suffer from ED due to the experience’s trauma. ED is associated with the anxiety and fear that comes from sex.
c. Physical Abuse: Men who have been physically abused develop ED because pain is linked to physical touch.
d. Combat Trauma: Males suffering from combat trauma can suffer from ED because of the correlation between violence and sex.
e. Childhood Trauma: Males with childhood trauma can experience ED because the trauma alters the way they develop sexually.
Treatment:
Such causes of ED are generally multi-disciplinary, and often involve CBT and, sometimes, medication. CBT works incredibly well for performance anxiety, which can be a cause of ED. In CBT, a person notices and resists the negative thinking that drives anxiety, and replaces it with positive and realistic thoughts. This anxiety reduction may facilitate achieving and maintaining an erection.
Other psychological causes of ED include depression. If depression is the underlying factor of ED, then antidepressants and psychotherapy are the major treatment options. But antidepressants might be the cause of ED, so you must take other medications at different doses.
In addition to CBT and use of the antidepressant, ED can be treated by a drug such as PDE5is. Drugs such as sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), and vardenafil (Levitra) boost the flow of blood to the penis to produce an erection. These medications do not work for psychological impotence; therefore, psychotherapy must be administered alongside these medications.
Also, the mental roots of ED should be taken into account by men, as it has the capacity to impact your life and relationships. The treatment can be CBT or antidepressants, but it needs to be created with a trained mental health professional or health provider who will ensure that the plan will be custom-tailored to your particular needs.
Conclusion: 5 Psychological Causes Of ED: When Erectile Dysfunction Isn’t From A Physical Issue
Conclusion: Even though the physical causes of ED are often the primary causes, the psychogenic causes should not be dismissed. Anxiety, stress, depression, relationship troubles, performance anxiety, trauma – these are all possible psychogenic causes of ED. It’s extremely critical for ED men to seek the expert help of a medical practitioner for determining and treating the psychogenic origin of their ED. Treatments and care have helped many men easily override ED’s psychogenic causes and reestablish sex and general health.
