Psychological Causes of ED
While a lot of cases of Erectile Dysfunction are now well-recognized to have physical causes, it is important to acknowledge the role the brain has to play also. The physical and nonphysical causes of erectile dysfunction commonly interact. For instance, a minor physical problem that slows sexual response may cause anxiety about attaining an erection. Then the anxiety can worsen your erectile dysfunction. However, in some cases, the primary cause can be psychological.
It is possible to determine whether or not a case has purely psychological or physical base, by the presence of involuntary erections. Healthy men have involuntary erections in the early morning and during REM sleep (a stage in the sleep cycle with rapid eye movements). Men with erectile dysfunction due to psychological factors such as stress and anxiety usually maintain these involuntary erections. Men with physical causes of erectile dysfunction (for example; atherosclerosis, smoking, and diabetes) usually do not have these involuntary erections.
The most common psychological causes of ED include:
- Stress: Stress can be job-related, money-related, or the result of marital problems, among other factors.
- Anxiety: Once a man experiences ED, he may become overly worried that the problem will happen again. This can lead to "performance anxiety," or a fear of sexual failure, and consistently cause ED.
- Guilt: A man may feel guilty that he is not satisfying his partner.
- Depression : Depression and anxiety can be both the cause and the consequence of ED. Depression affects a person physically and psychologically. Drugs used to treat depression may also cause ED and may also interfere with the effectiveness of the popular impotence pills, such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.
- Low self-esteem: This can be due to prior episodes of ED (thus a feeling of inadequacy) or can be the result of other issues unrelated to sexual performance.
- Fatigue: Fatigue drains mental and physical energy and can result in anxiety if the problem is not addressed. Like stress, once fatigue is reduced, normal sexuality is restored.
