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Summary
The cause of a sexual dysfunction may be psychological or physical or both. It may be due to personal or interpersonal [relationship] problems, due to ignorance, inhibitions, poor communication, pain, anxiety, depression, stress, past experiences or existing issues.
Love needs time to grow, and partners need regular contact to maintain their bond. Under pressure of work, commuting, financial concerns and family and social commitments, couples do not have enough quality time together, and the time they do have is not relaxed or de-stressed. Sometimes neither has sufficient mental and emotional energy available to make love. Stress creates an inability to cope with one’s own emotions, making it difficult to deal with each other positively, and this may result in feelings of rejection or resentment, and lead to conflict. Relationships need to take priority if they are to survive.
Many factors or just one may trigger a sexual dysfunction, and then if the person becomes anxious about one or two episodes of failure, for example as a result of an illness or the use of medication, then anxiety about performance may perpetuate the problem and establish a dysfunction. A sexual dysfunction may occur in a man or woman and usually results in dissatisfaction and frustration for both partners.
It is important to seek help before the problem becomes entrenched.
A professional therapist will take a careful history which will usually reveal the cause of the dysfunction, and whether a problem is lifelong [always been a problem], or secondary [function was good previously, but changed due to particular circumstances: - conflict, illness, medication], or situational [where sexual function is only possible in a particular situation [on holiday or when privacy is assured], or with a particular partner or with a partner of the same or opposite sex.
Once the cause is established, treatment can be started to help both partners.
