Home CAUSES OF SEXUAL PROBLEMS
PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES
NewsLetter
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter
UNSUBSCRIBE
There are many possible causes of a sexual dysfunction, and if you can identify the factor/s that may have triggered your problem then it will be helpful to discuss it with your partner, and try to work it through by dealing with the causative factor/s, or seek advice from a suitable therapist.
Anxiety: about: being discovered, pain, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, rejection, frustration, commitment, intimacy, adequacy of performance, losing control, vulnerability, work, health, time, contraception.
Conflict: between fear of having sex and desire, denial of sexual pleasure, conflict about sexual orientation.
Deliberate control: unilateral decision to be celibate.
Developmental: absence of sex rehearsal play. The inborn sex drive needs to develop through touch, scent and sight from infancy for the evolution of sexuality. Deprivation of touching through injury, or a serious childhood illness in the first year, or pre-puberty, interrupts bonding and can create anxiety about body penetration.
Faulty attitudes: based on negative family attitudes, misinformation, myths, restrictive upbringing, religious prohibitions, cultural restraints (different expectations for passivity and dominance), taboo on communicating about sex.
Guilt about: sexual feelings and behaviour (oral sex, extramarital or premarital sex, homosexuality), or sex for pleasure, or repeated failure to achieve orgasm or to ‘satisfy’ one’s partner.
Ignorance: of anatomy, physiology and sexual function; unrealistic expectations.
Lack of awareness of: the disparity of sexual arousal between men and women; sexual activity other than penis in the vagina; the need for guiding and experimentation, and variation in lovemaking; physiological changes associated with pregnancy and ageing.
Personal: poor self esteem or body image, discomfort with nudity; physical unattractiveness or disfigurement.
Maintaining factors: performance anxiety, spectatoring [watching one’s own sexual performance with anxiety, poor communication, inhibitions, poor relationship, illness, ageing.
Poor bonding: lack of (or inability to demonstrate) warmth and affection.
Precipitating factors: stress associated with finance, family, work, pregnancy, infertility, marriage, infidelity, bereavement, illness, depression, menopause.
Traumatic experience: incest, rape; forced, failed or faulty first [or subsequent] sexual experience; punishment for masturbation, discovery while having sex.
Interpersonal causes:
Poor communication: in general and about sexual needs.
Relationship: may be good, or associated with hostility, deceit, resentment, indifference, withdrawal, jealousy; lack of affection, consideration, respect, trust, or companionship, no common interests or shared leisure; critical or uncooperative partner; financial difficulties.
Sexual: unacceptable demands; no communication, spontaneity or experimentation; disparity in desire; lack of awareness of sexual needs; inadequate stimulation, monotony; sex used as a weapon; response to partner’s dysfunction (e.g. vaginismus or premature ejaculation).
