Sexual Desire: What Physical And Psychological Elements Influence It?
Sexual desire is, according to Kaplan, an impulse produced by a network of nerve cells in the brain whose functioning affects the genital organs during the phases of orgasm and arousal.
On the other hand, according to Cottraux, it is a phase in the sequence of sexual behavior that translates into affective phenomena, preceding consummatory behavior, representing itself as an anticipation of sexual activities, being conscious and the result of mental, physiological and biochemical processes. Here We will know some aspects of the functioning of sexual desire both in cases in which there are disorders that affect it and in cases in which these do not occur.
Testosterone intervenes effectively in increasing the frequency of nocturnal penile tumescence. In women, androgens are also the basis of sexual desire.
The effect of testosterone on sexual desire is not immediate; you have to wait seven to ten days to see an increase in its presence. Androgens would not be related to sexual functioning itself, but rather to sexual appetite Its effects would be more in the sphere of desire.
Affective and mental aspects
Sexual desire is allied with experiences of pleasure Sexual episodes experienced satisfactorily usually act as a driving force for successive experiences. Likewise, negative ideas about sex, the highly frustrating or painful experiences associated with the sexual experience, seem to have a clear inhibiting effect. Sexual desire is clearly influenced by emotional psychological processes.
On the other hand, The quality of the emotional bond existing in the relationship can greatly affect the presence of desire And sexual fantasies, as a form of anticipation and sexual recreation, seem to be a driving force of sexual desire.
Factors to take into account
Sexual desire must be seen in relation to several factors, which we will see below.
1. Importance of fantasies
They energize desire and add that necessary play component to sexual relations and reinforce behavior, anticipating the possibility of an encounter and preparing the neurochemical system for it. When the relationship becomes monotonous, that fun, necessary part disappears.
2. The dynamics of the limbic system
There are times when in our limbic system, in the emotional part, there is a primitive “recording” that charges negatively against the sexual response, feeling it as something bad, either due to experiences or due to the messages transmitted from our environment.
3. Sexual learning is important
If the person has had bad experiences, there will not be good sexual learning , the system tending to avoid it and giving rise to the absence of desire. This often happens when sex becomes obligatory or is done out of a commitment to the partner rather than a desire.
4. The object of sexual attraction is very important
This influences whether we stop liking the partner or whether there is covert homosexuality that prevents the person from expressing their desires in a natural and healthy way.
5. The sexual education that the person receives and the perception of the other is basic
If we understand that the other sex is going to use us, use us or hurt us, the attraction component is going to be ambivalent , one part needs it and another rejects it. Here we include when sexual behavior itself is considered dangerous, either due to possible pregnancies, or anticipation of the relationship as something that generates alert.
Normal sexuality: We must not make the mistaken interpretation that every hypoactive state of desire is equal to a disorder. Lack of desire or low desire becomes a problem when the person experiences such a situation with lack, generating anxiety
Physical causes of lack of desire
Some dysfunctions with physical origin can interfere with the appearance of sexual desire. The most common are the following:
Psychological causes of lack of desire
The most frequent are the following:
A separate requirement is for people who have suffered some type of abuse in this area The percentage of the general population of women and men who have suffered some type of childhood abuse is very high. This can generate a traumatized response to the sexual component, with a tendency to avoid. In many cases the person cannot access this information for different reasons, such as a form of defense of our mind, resulting in a freezing response to sexual behavior, without a cause that the person can identify.
Treatment techniques
These are the most used techniques in psychotherapy When faced with these types of problems:
