Sexual response in young people with psychopathological symptoms

What is it about?

The relationship between psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, etc.) and alterations in sexual functioning (loss of sexual interest and difficulties in sexual arousal or orgasmic capacity) is well known. However, few studies have been carried out in non-clinical samples, especially in young people, even though they may also suffer from sexual dysfunctions. For this reason this study present the results of the association between psychopathological dimensions and sexual functioning in young adults aged 18 to 35 years old. For this purpose, a research composed of two studies was carried out. In the first study, sexual functioning and psychopathological dimensions were assessed in 700 women and 516 men. Results indicated that, in both men and women, depression and anxiety-related symptoms had a negative effect on dimensions of sexual functioning (desire, arousal, and orgasm). In the second study, 143 men and 123 women of the same sample participated to determine whether psychopathological symptoms explained subjective sexual arousal which was assessed by an experimental task conducted in a laboratory setting. The task consisted of watching clips of explicit sexual content for the assessment of subjective sexual arousal and genital sensations. The results of this second study showed that anxiety was positively associated with subjective sexual arousal in men and women, also with the intensity of genital sensations in men. The differences in the results on the role of anxiety between the two studies could be explained by the fact that sexual arousal was assessed in general terms in Study 1, while in Study 2 arousal was assessed as a state when watching clips of sexual content This confirms the need to assess anxiety in depth by relating it to dimensions of sexual response.

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Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash

Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Overall, the findings confirm that the presence of psychopathological symptoms affects the sexual functioning of young people, and it is necessary to strengthen mental disorder prevention programs that include sexual health content.

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