Premature Ejaculation

In our last post, we discussed delayed ejaculation. In today’s post, we are going to talk about its opposite. The term “under 1-minute man” is not alien to most of us I presume, a tag that seems to ridicule even the most masculine looking man. Premature ejaculation has been documented to be the most common sexual dysfunction that affects males. In today’s post, we will delve into what exactly this is and what causes it.

 

Premature Ejaculation involves a recurrent pattern of having an orgasm with minimal sexual stimulation before, during, or shortly after vaginal penetration, usually within a minute. This is often accompanied by depression due to a sense of inadequacy and failure. Psychological explanations of this condition have purported that anxiety in diverse forms, contribute to the origination and/or the sustenance of this condition. The first is anxiety as a phobic response. In this case, the individual may have some form of fear regarding the vagina, which may cause him to ejaculate prematurely. The second is performance anxiety, where preoccupations about sexual performance leads to an avoidance or fear of sexual situations thus resulting in prematurely backing out of such situations. In addition to the above, early learned sexual experiences have also been found in certain situations to play a role in premature ejaculation. Men with early sexual experiences in which the encounters were rushed and accompanied by feelings of nervousness present with cases of premature ejaculation.

This happens to be so because there is a learning or conditioning that associates sexual performance with speed and discomfort which becomes the blueprint for subsequent sexual experiences. 

As pointed out earlier, in order to be diagnosed with this sexual dysfunction, the DSM-5 requires that an individual should have experienced the symptoms associated with the particular dysfunction for at least 6 months in addition to experiencing significant levels of distress. As such individuals who do not experience distress or concern about early ejaculation as well as those who are not sexually active would not be given a clinical diagnosis about this disorder. There are treatment options available for this dysfunction. For some people, only psychotherapy may be enough to address the underlying causes of the condition they may be experiencing. For others, a combination of biological treatment and psychotherapy will be more beneficial. Do not hesitate to reach out for professional help from the Dialogue Genitalia Team if you are concerned about a condition you or your loved one may be experiencing. I trust we have learnt a thing or two so far in this series. Do drop your comments and your questions and make it a point to join us in our next post as we continue with Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder.