Psychological impact of premature ejaculation and barriers to its recognition and treatment
- PMID: 21663497
- DOI: 10.1185/03007995.2011.590968
Psychological impact of premature ejaculation and barriers to its recognition and treatment
Abstract
Background: Premature ejaculation (PE) is the most common male sexual dysfunction, occurring in 20-30% of men. Unlike erectile dysfunction, which increases with age, rates of PE remain constant across the adult life span.
Objective: To review the prevalence of PE, its psychological sequelae and barriers to effective treatment, treatment options, and the effects of treatment on the psychological burden of PE.
Methods: PubMed and Embase databases were searched to identify primary papers related to PE published between 1980 and 2010. Key words included premature ejaculation, prevalence, quality of life, interpersonal relationships, psychotherapy, drug therapy, and treatment barriers.
Results: Men with PE often suffer from significant psychological distress including anxiety, depression, lack of sexual confidence, poor self-esteem, impaired quality of life, sexual dissatisfaction, and interpersonal difficulties. Due to various reasons, however, most men do not seek treatment for PE. Many physicians are unaware of the distressful nature of PE and might be reluctant to ask patients about their sexual function. Nevertheless, increasing clinical research on pharmacologic treatment of PE, and the use of on-demand orally administered short-acting selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or topically applied local anesthetics, appears promising. Although few rigorous studies assessing psychotherapeutic treatments have been conducted, many clinicians report the success of psychological treatments for PE.
Summary and conclusions: Conclusions drawn from this review are limited due to inherent variations across studies, including criteria to define PE, study designs, outcome measures, populations, survey instruments, and study settings. While the psychological distress associated with PE suggests the appropriateness of at least minimal counseling for couples, limited data are available to support a combined psychotherapeutic and pharmacologic treatment approach. The paucity of well-designed psychotherapy or combination studies represents an important unmet need in the treatment of PE.
Similar articles
-
A new combination treatment for premature ejaculation: a sex therapist's perspective.J Sex Med. 2006 Nov;3(6):1004-1012. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2006.00238.x. J Sex Med. 2006. PMID: 17100933 Review.
-
The psychology of premature ejaculation: therapies and consequences.J Sex Med. 2006 Sep;3 Suppl 4:324-31. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2006.00308.x. J Sex Med. 2006. PMID: 16939477
-
Psychosocial interventions for premature ejaculation.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Aug 10;(8):CD008195. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008195.pub2. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011. PMID: 21833964 Review.
-
Disorders of orgasm and ejaculation in men.J Sex Med. 2010 Apr;7(4 Pt 2):1668-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01782.x. J Sex Med. 2010. PMID: 20388164
-
An overview of pharmacotherapy in premature ejaculation.J Sex Med. 2011 Oct;8 Suppl 4:335-41. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02451.x. J Sex Med. 2011. PMID: 21967395 Review.
Cited by
-
Is bulbospongiosus muscle botox injection safe and effective in treating lifelong premature ejaculation? Randomized controlled study.World J Urol. 2024 Apr 6;42(1):218. doi: 10.1007/s00345-024-04899-1. World J Urol. 2024. PMID: 38581447 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
-
Daily intake of 30 mg duloxetine is effective in decreasing premature ejaculation severity: a prospective randomized placebo-controlled cross over clinical trial.Basic Clin Androl. 2023 Dec 5;33(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s12610-023-00210-1. Basic Clin Androl. 2023. PMID: 38049720 Free PMC article.
-
Altered reward processing in patients with lifelong premature ejaculation.Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 16;13(1):17539. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44914-w. Sci Rep. 2023. PMID: 37845325 Free PMC article.
-
Abnormal cortical surface-based spontaneous and functional connectivity in the whole brain in lifelong premature ejaculation patients.Asian J Androl. 2023 Nov 1;25(6):699-703. doi: 10.4103/aja202349. Epub 2023 Sep 29. Asian J Androl. 2023. PMID: 37800899 Free PMC article.
-
Premature Ejaculation-Emerging Concepts and a Novel Classification.Balkan Med J. 2023 Oct 20;40(6):454-455. doi: 10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2023.2023-6-47. Epub 2023 Jul 31. Balkan Med J. 2023. PMID: 37519007 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical