While anyone can have trouble achieving or maintaining an erection occasionally, prolonged problems are a sign of erectile dysfunction. Statistics show that most times this issue is caused by a physical condition, but up to 20 percent of erectile dysfunction cases are caused by psychological factors. This means you’ll likely need to undertake a different course of treatment to deal with it.
5 Psychological Reasons for Erectile Dysfunction
1. Stress
Stress can affect multiple systems in your body – especially when it’s chronic. Studies show that being constantly stressed can lead to high blood pressure, strokes, heart disease, and digestive issues. Unsurprisingly, it can also affect how well you can perform sexually. Of all the mental blocks that lead to erectile dysfunction, stress is a major culprit.
2. Anxiety
Whether you’re dealing with generalized anxiety or anxiety that’s specifically related to sexual performance, you may have trouble getting things going. Interestingly, not being able to achieve an erection once can lead to ongoing anxiety about it happening again, which then results in erectile dysfunction.
3. Guilt
Guilt can become an all-encompassing emotion that takes over every aspect of your life, including your bedroom. While you can feel guilty about many things, it’s most likely that you have guilt around issues that directly affect your relationship. For example, you may be hiding something from your partner that would worry them, such as job loss. Infidelity is another common cause of guilt when it comes to relationships.
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4. Depression
People who are depressed often lose interest in many things, and sex can be one of them. This lack of interest makes it impossible for them to be sexually active. Additionally, depression can result in unexplained fatigue that leaves little energy for sex.
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5. Low Self-Esteem
Sometimes, not having the best view of yourself can impact sexual performance. If you’re not sure of your partner’s attraction to you or if they’re satisfied, you may not be able to perform as you’d like. This is also likely if the person you’re with has expressed dissatisfaction before or commented on one of your physical attributes.
How to Deal With It
Given that the source of the erectile dysfunction is psychological, the first step is identifying what’s going on with you. Instead of focusing on the result of the problems, look for other possible symptoms. For example, if you’re constantly stressed, you may have trouble sleeping, unexplained headaches, constipation, diarrhea, sudden sweating, chronic fatigue, and loss of appetite. You may also become more prone to panic attacks.
With anxiety, you may experience an increased heart rate, feelings of impending doom, restlessness, trouble concentrating, trembling, stomach problems, and hyperventilation. Depression, on the other hand, can mean a loss of interest in things you would usually enjoy, trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, being indecisive, feeling irrational guilt, feeling hopeless, loss of appetite or eating too much, and unexplained body aches.
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Fortunately, the tips for managing these mental health issues are similar. The experts suggest maintaining a regular exercise routine as it helps improve mental health. Some other tips include incorporating fish, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits into your diet, socializing more, writing your thoughts in a journal, and creating a bedtime routine that helps you sleep better.
Though you may be tempted to use drugs or alcohol to take your mind off things, studies suggest that doing so will only increase issues like anxiety and depression. They can also lead to physical conditions that further exacerbate your erectile dysfunction. Stress management techniques like visualization, meditation, and yoga can ease anxiety as well.
It can also be helpful to identify the things that trigger your anxiety or stress so you can avoid them. In cases where you can’t, you will at least know you need to practice some stress management techniques to keep your head.
As discussed above, your mental status can also be tied to your relationship with your partner. Talking to them about what’s troubling you can help to alleviate the symptoms of erectile dysfunction if you’re no longer feeling guilty or anxious. Depending on the state of your relationship, though, you may need external help to guide those discussions.
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When to See a Doctor
If you’ve been trying to improve your mental health but nothing has changed, it’s time to see your doctor. It may mean that you need to see a therapist to work through your mental health issues, or you have an unknown physical cause for your erectile dysfunction. The latter may be likely if you have symptoms of diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or multiple sclerosis (MS).
In either case, your doctor will start with a physical examination to determine the cause of the problem. You may also need to undergo blood, urine, and ultrasound tests to determine what may be wrong. Finally, there will be a mental health assessment where your doctor aims to determine the details of your medical and psychological history. This can mean talking about your mental health, relationships, and health status.
How The Condition is Treated
Your treatment program will depend heavily on the determined cause of your erectile dysfunction. For those whose issue is psychological, the main focus will be on counseling. A counselor can help you manage the factors that have caused your condition. Sometimes you only need individual counseling, but couples’ therapy can be critical if your relationship is affecting your mental health.
Additionally, your doctor may recommend other treatments to help with the physical side of things while you work on your mental health. For example, oral medications can help with erectile dysfunction. Physical prooducts such as penis pumps can also make a difference. When discussing treatment, you should always ask your doctor about side effects and what would work best for you.
Of course, this is based on the assumption that your erectile dysfunction is based on your mental state. If your doctor finds that an illness is the cause, then there are different medications and treatment options to explore. These include intramuscular injections, penile implants, and surgery.
Different physical ailments can lead to erectile dysfunction, but for a certain percentage of people, the blocks are strictly psychological. In this case, it’s best to determine what the issues are and deal with them accordingly.
