Anxiety and low mood sit behind a great deal of male sexual difficulty, and are just as often caused by it. Untangling the two is the useful first step.
A single disappointing episode is enough to start the cycle. The next occasion is approached with apprehension, apprehension raises the stress response, and the stress response works directly against the relaxation an erection needs. Within a few weeks the expectation of failure has become the main cause of it.
That is why anxiety cannot simply be dismissed as the whole story or waved away as unimportant. It is real, it is physical in its effects, and it responds well to being named. Men are often relieved to hear that the mechanism is understood and common rather than a personal weakness.
It is equally important not to stop there. Low mood, poor sleep and fatigue can all come from thyroid disease, low testosterone, anaemia or diabetes. Testing is done before anything is attributed to stress, because assuming a mental cause is how physical illness gets missed in men.
These are the descriptions men give at the start of a consultation, long before they use the word anxiety.
Any of these can look exactly like low mood, and all of them are treatable once identified.
The most effective plans usually combine two or three of these rather than relying on any one.
Some situations need a mental health specialist rather than a general consultation, and that referral is arranged without fuss.
Related reading, and the programme that combines medical treatment with counselling.
How anxiety and physical health interact, and what to do about each.
Ask a QuestionUsually a mixture. A useful clue is whether erections still occur on waking or when alone. If they do, the mechanism is intact and anxiety is playing a large part. Testing is still done, because both can be present at once.
Sometimes, if a single bad episode is not repeated. More often it feeds itself, because each attempt carries the memory of the last. Naming it and taking the pressure off deliberately breaks that loop faster than waiting does.
Yes. Low testosterone, thyroid disease, anaemia and vitamin deficiency all cause flat mood and fatigue. That is why blood testing comes first rather than assuming stress, which is how treatable illness is so often missed in men.
Not routinely. Counselling, sleep correction and treating any physical cause come first. Where medication is genuinely appropriate, the options and their sexual side effects are explained honestly, and specialist referral is arranged where that is the better route.
It can. Several common tablets for blood pressure, prostate symptoms and low mood affect sexual function. Bring a full list to the consultation, because an alternative can often be arranged with the doctor who prescribed it.
No. Records are confidential, reception uses first names only, and nothing is shared with relatives or employers without your written consent. You can also ask for messages instead of calls, and that preference is respected.
Speak with Dr. Ashutosh Shah at Elegance Clinic, Surat.
