Author: The Beauty Nation

The most important fact of STDs is they are not contracted by people who have only one partner.

At the Clinic

Some clinics which specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of sexual diseases are free. Others charge for their services. Some are walk-in; others require an appointment to be made first. Many women opt to visit a health clinic rather than a family physician. They prefer the anonymity of their surroundings. When the infection is cured, there is no record in the family files.

Some STDs are “notifiable.” By law, they must be reported to the local health authorities. This varies from area to area, and from time to time. Other STDs are anonymous; a number instead of a name is used. Still other diseases are confidential; name, address, and telephone number are kept in secret files. Again, this varies with the area and the time.

Some STDs have more than one name. Others have their names changed as more is discovered about them. They then get placed in their own special category; they no longer belong to the group they were originally designated. In much the same way, therapies and medications vary from clinic to clinic and from time to time. Though this can seem confusing, it shows an increase in medical knowledge of the disease. Also, environmental conditions and the endemic nature of the infection in one particular area are taken into account.

In towns and cities, there are hot lines to call for advice, help and information. There are telephone tapes which are useful too. In isolated areas, look for notices in public locales, such as town halls, libraries and rest rooms. Consult the phone book. Entries might be under V for venereal disease or $ for STD. Above all, avoid delay in seeking help.

High Risk Behaviors

High risk sexual behavior includes:

• Sex which is paid for.
• Constant change of heterosexual partners.
• Heterosexual anal sex which is unprotected.
• Sex with an intravenous drug user.
• “Tough” sex which causes lesions, bruises, bleeding.
• Male sex (anal homosexual intercourse).

AIDS is transmitted by the HIV virus in blood, semen, and vagina fluids. It can be passed in skin sores and genital lesions too tiny to be seen with the unaided eye. It is also passed from mother to child in breast milk. Infected blood and semen contain the highest concentration of the virus. Vagina fluids have a lesser concentration. HIV may be present in sweat, saliva, and tears, but the concentrations are usually too weak for there to be any risk.

STDs, however, pass in very low concentrations. One germ can be enough. Studies suggest that syphilis and herpes are significant risk factors in the transmission of HIV. The sores of either disease can be on the mouth or inside the rectum, as well as on the genitals. In women, HIV is linked with a history of genital warts. It seems likely that STDs, which disrupt epithelial (lining) tissue, are important factors in the transmission of HIV. An appropriate way to avoid infection is to avoid direct contact with a partner’s semen, blood, or sores anywhere on the skin. Condoms provide some protection.

Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea is a bacterial infection which affects one million people each year in the United States. It is believed a further one million cases each year go unreported, because the disease is asymptomatic in 10 to 15 percent of men, and in 50 to 80 percent of women. Of the women with mild symptoms, 40 to 60 percent ignore them, believing that they are due to some other minor problem. The cervix is the most common site of gonorrhea.

Symptoms appear 3 days to 2 weeks after sexual contact. There is a thick, yellowish discharge. The cervix looks red, with small bump-like pits which are erosions. The urine tract often becomes infected, with the classic symptoms of UTI: stinging pain, frequency, and urgency. The infection can spread, to Skene’s and Bartholin’s glands. With oral sex, gonorrhea can spread from the penis to the throat, with sore throat and swollen glands, or it is asymptomatic. Discharge from an infected vagina or anal sex can infect the rectum with itching anus and discharge.

Untreated gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Some 1 to 3 percent of women develop “disseminated gonorrhea,’ which spreads throughout the system. It can cause arthritis and, in rare cases, heart disease. The infection can be passed to a baby during birth, causing serious infection and possible blindness. Therapy is by antibiotics. Protect the cervix.

Syphilis

The corkscrew shaped bacteria of syphilis penetrate the skin of the vulva and within 30 minutes reach the glands in the groin. Thirty-six hours after infection, the bacteria have doubled in number. They double again every 30 hours. It takes an average 3 weeks (10 to 50 days) for the first symptoms to appear. By then, there are countless bacteria in the blood stream.

The first symptom is a chancre, an ulcer which starts as a pimple and then develops into an open sore with a hard rim. It is painless and self-healing. Once the sore disappears, bacteria travel in the blood, rapidly multiplying. Second stage syphilis occurs 2 to 6 weeks later. The symptoms include a skin rash over the body, swollen glands, and a flu-like condition; but often the disease is asymptomatic. Syphilis continues to wreak its havoc in the vital organs. In later years, the tertiary (third) stage is devastating: heart and brain disorders, joint inflammation, and sometimes early death.

Only about 10 percent of women who get chancres notice them. They can be hidden in the folds of the labia, under the hood of the clitoris, inside the vagina or rectum, on the cervix itself. The bacteria enter through any tiny skin lesion. The sores can appear anywhere, the most usual places being the mouth, nostril, tongue, even the finger. Avoid sexual contact if sores appear on any skin parts. The same applies to a partner.

Antibiotics destroy the bacteria of syphilis. Regular blood tests are necessary for the next two years to check for lingering germs. Keep all follow-up appointments to ensure that the disease has finally gone. Syphilis is 3 times more common in men than women; it is rare in female homosexuals. It can be passed to the fetus after the 20th week of pregnancy, so a blood test for syphilis is now a routine part of prenatal care.

Anal Sex

Anal sex carries specific health risks for all lovers, be they heterosexual or homosexual. Faeces contain highly infectious matter. The walls of the rectum are only a few cells thick. They are not designed to resist the pressure of a thrusting penis. They tear easily, and microscopic bleeding occurs. If the penis is not washed immediately after anal sex, whatever germs are in the bowel are thrust directly into the vagina. Infected semen, blood, or faeces can then pass directly into the blood system. Repeated attacks of yeast overgrowth can also occur this way.

Whatever the moral stance, hygiene is top priority. The penis should not touch the vulva, nor should it ever enter the vagina straight from the bowel. Hands, particularly fingernails, are an added danger in anal sex. Wiping with a tissue is not enough. Penis, hands, mechanical toys, all must be thoroughly scrubbed. It is strongly recommended a condom be used during anal sex, and immediately discarded afterwards.

Oral Sex

Specific micro-organisms inhabit the mouth, just as they inhabit other body orifices (openings). They rarely cause problems within their natural ecology. If they are transmitted to other orifices, they can cause infection. One typical example is a harmless bacteria of the mouth which can come in contact with the penis. The germs enter the urinary tract, and cause male UTI.

The membranes which line the mouth are naturally subjected to tiny lesions. It has been estimated that there is gum bleeding after brushing the teeth in at least one-third of any given population. Small ulcers can be present at the sides of the mouth. The tongue can be sore for a variety of reasons. All these factors can make the mouth an “unsafe” place for sex.

Diseases known to be transmitted by oro-genital infection are: the herpes virus cold sore, yeast infections, AIDS, gonorrhoea of the throat, and syphilis chancre of the lips. At least two cases of AIDS have been contracted this way. It would seem unlikely that a woman would wish to kiss a partner with a sore on the mouth, or that she would perform oral sex on a penis with a “drip”. Yet all infections have an incubation period. There is a time lapse between contracting a disease and the appearance of symptoms. Incubation periods vary widely with different STDs; they can take years for AIDS. With a new partner, the incubation period must be taken into account.

In some cases, both partners are asymptomatic. There are no signs of disease to remind lovers that oral sex can be hazardous. Avoid direct mouth contact with semen. Where there is high risk sexual activity, one option is to completely avoid oro-genital sex. If this is unacceptable, wait until a new partner has been tested and is known to be infection-free.

Tricky Trichomonas

Trichomonas vaginalis, or trich, is caused by a one-celled protozoan which grows rapidly within the vagina. Some women have an immediate and painful reaction to trich. Many more have asymptomatic trich; it is often only found if there are tests for other problems. The symptoms include a thin, foamy discharge which is yellow, green, or grey; there is intense itching and soreness, especially if the vulva is scratched. Trich can infect the urinary tract, causing burning, urgency and frequency. No tiny, one-celled creature should be able to cause such misery. But it does.

Trich can be passed on damp material: towels, bathing suits, washcloths, and toilet seats. This is rare. In most cases, it is transmitted by direct sexual contact. Metronidazole in Flagyl destroys trich. It has side effects, and should not be taken if there is any risk of pregnancy. A partner must be treated. Eschew douches and tampons. Avoid a flare-up recurrence by following the sarne “cool and dry” regime as for yeast overgrowth.

Vaginitis

There are many other organisms which can attack the area. They come under the generic terms nonspecific vaginitis and vulvitis. Nonspecific refers to conditions in which the cause is uncertain. They may be due to sexual infection, or they may not. The symptoms are often the same as for yeast and trich, with a profuse, foul-smelling discharge, intense itching, soreness, and in some cases, severe pain. Again, like yeast and trich, none of these attacks seem to affect the cervix. Yet they can cause real misery, and greatly reduce the quality of life.

Have a test for diabetes or a prediabetes condition first. Check diet and general health; try to boost the immune system by getting more rest, more profound sleep. Many women are run down and exhausted without realizing how deeply tired they are. Once yeast and trich are ruled out, a course of antibiotics may be the answer, though a yeast overgrowth may then have to be treated. If attacks of vaginitis or vulvitis do recur, be extra scrupulous with genital hygiene. Keep the entire area cool and dry.

Chlamydia

Chlamydia is the most common STD in the U.S. today, with as many as 4 million new cases each year. It causes about half the known cases of NGU (non-gonococcal urethritis) in men. It breeds on the cervix in women. The symptoms are often mild, and frequently go unnoticed. They are the same symptoms as for gonorrhea and can be confused with it. However, they appear a little later, within 1 to 3 weeks of sexual contact. More rarely, Chlamydia can be passed by a hand infected with the discharge from parent to baby.

If left untreated, chlamydia can lead to PID and infertility. Tests involve taking swabs from the cervix and culturing a specimen. The antibiotic of choice is tetracycline. Protect the cervix.

Herpes

The first attack of the herpes virus is the most painful and takes the longest time to heal. Within 2 to 20 days after infection, there is a mild tingling or itching. This can be on the labia, clitoris, or vagina opening; more rarely on the vagina wall, the cervix, the buttocks, thighs, or anus. It develops into one or more watery, painful blisters in the next few days. There can be burning or pain on urination, with swollen lymph nodes in the groin. There is an increase in discharge, or a feeling of pressure in the pelvic area. In some cases, the entire body reacts with flu-like symptoms: fever, headache, and chills.

Ninety percent of women develop sores on the vagina and cervix during a first infection. The blisters burst quickly, and shed highly contagious viruses everywhere. The now-empty blisters turn into shallow ulcers, which can be painful. The ulcers form into crusts, which heal spontaneously within 1 to 5 weeks. Visit the physician as soon as the symptoms appear. At an early stage, diagnosis can be made by sight alone. Help can begin immediately, but a culture test is very expensive.

At least 5 types of herpes virus are known to affect humans. The Epstein Barr virus and-cytomegalovirus causes infectious mononucleosis, also known as glandular fever. The varicella virus causes chicken pox in children, and shingles in adults. There are 2 types of herpes simplex virus. HSV 1 causes cold sores on the lips or nose, also called fever blisters. HSV 2 causes genital ulcers, also called genital herpes.

By adulthood, most people have been infected with the cold sore virus, HSV 1. They develop antibodies against it, and only a few actually get cold sores. Fewer adults have HSV 2 antibodies because the virus is spread by sexual contact. The findings of a recent study suggest that 99 percent of prostitutes have HSV 2 antibodies in their blood, compared with 3 percent of nuns and 29 percent of women in a committed relationship.

About 50 percent of those with HSV 2 have no symptoms. The recent increase in genital herpes is thought to be partly due to this, and partly due to an increase in the practice of oro-genital sex. In some cases, both HSV 1 and HSV 2 cause genital herpes. If suffering from a cold sore, avoid kissing, and any facial or genital contact. This applies to a partner as well.

Not all HSV 2 die after a first attack. The virus coats itself in the person’s own protein substance and retreats along nerve endings to the base of the spine. Here it sets up a permanent home, staying inactive for varying lengths of time. When the virus becomes active again, it usually returns to the same place as the previous attack. Recurring outbreaks can be virulent and painful, or very mild. If mild, a woman may be unaware that she is shedding highly contagious germs.

HSV 2 is particularly dangerous for women. It is linked with cancer of the cervix, The virus can cause miscarriage in the first 3 months of pregnancy. If shed during birth, 1 in 2 babies will be infected. Two out of 3 of those infected babies will die. Half the others suffer brain damage, or visual defects. These horrors are now avoided by Caesarian birth. The baby is lifted from the uterus and thus avoids contact with the virus.

As yet, there is no drug to destroy the herpes virus. The drug acyclovir helps reduce the pain of an attack; it may even lessen the number of recurrences. One of the miserable factors of herpes is the permanent risk of passing on the disease. Some physicians believe that this is only during the active phase; others strongly disagree. An infected person cannot be free of this worry.

Genital Warts

Molluscum Contagiosum: There are two kinds of warts, simple and genital. Both can infect the genitals; it is crucial to recognize the difference. Simple warts are the kind which appears on the hands of children. They are small, dimpled papules, which look like spots with a drop of pearly fluid inside. They are highly contagious, as their Latin name shows. They can be transmitted to the genitals by self or partner from warts on the hands and elsewhere. The virus enters the skin through invisible lesions which occur during sexual activity. The warts appear some 30 days after contact. Attacks of simple warts on the genitals are rare, being most likely in the teens and 20 to 30 age group.

If the penis is infected with simple warts, some men try self therapy. This is not advisable for women. Simple warts can be painful if rubbed, otherwise a woman is unaware of them. They are not life-threatening, nor do untold damage, but they are highly contagious. Visit the physician or clinic. Therapy varies.

Human Papilloma Virus: HPV is specific to the genital area. It is transmitted by direct sexual contact. The warts appear 3 weeks to 3 months after contact, but the incubation time can be up to 8 months, even more. The warts can be single; usually, they grow in clusters like grapes. With their raised, bumpy tops, they look like miniature cauliflowers. They grow on the labia lips or anus, inside the vagina, or on the cervix. In many cases, they are asymptomatic, and the woman is unaware that she is infected.

The warts are painless, but easily irritated by rubbing, and sometimes they itch. If there has been anal contact, they can grow inside the rectum and around the anus. More rarely with oral contact, they infect the linings of the mouth. If the warts breed in colonies on the cervix, the disease may not be detected until a Pap smear is done. Women with HPV have a five times higher risk of cancer of the cervix.

Larger warts, especially on the cervix, may be vaporized by laser therapy, but it is difficult to know if they have all been destroyed. The healing process takes 6 weeks. Repeat therapy is necessary if they flare up again; avoid losing patience as laser therapy usually works. Other therapies include burning the warts off by electric cautery, or freezing them with dry ice. The physician then snips them off. External warts can be painted with the drug podophyllin. It takes 3 or 4 weekly treatments for the warts to dry up and drop off.

HPV infection is also called condyloma. The prescription drug Condylox has just been made available for home treatment, which means that patients no longer need to have a physician apply the therapy. At least 56 different types of the virus have been identified.

Hepatitis

Hepatitis A and B are caused by virus infection of the liver. The virus breeds in waste matter from the bowel and is common where there is poor sanitation. It is passed in contaminated food and drink; less usually, by sexual contact; more rarely, by transfusions of infected blood. Hepatitis is on the increase, probably due to more foreign travel. When visiting areas with poor sanitation, observe strict personal hygiene. Drink bottled water, eschew ice cubes. Avoid anal and oral sexual contact.

The symptoms of both A and B are the same: fever, nausea, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, and chills. Jaundice shows as a yellow tinge to the skin, fingernails, and whites of the eyes about a week later. Urine can be dark in colour; stools almost whitish. A few people are asymptomatic. With hepatitis A, the symptoms are mild. The defence system builds immunity to the virus, but it remains in the blood and can be transmitted.

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) produces severe symptoms, which start suddenly 1 to 6 months after contact. If liver damage is extensive, death occurs in 5 to 20 percent of cases. The B virus is transmitted in blood and blood products during sexual contact: semen, vagina secretions, saliva, and faeces are suspect. It is also passed by IV drug users sharing infected needles. The incidence of HBV is rising rapidly, perhaps due to more foreign travel and IV drug use. Male homosexuals, heterosexuals with multiple partners, travellers, and drug addicts are high risk groups.

AIDS

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Acquired: it is passed on, but not inherited.
Immunodeficiency: the immune system grows weak and deficient.
Syndrome: a group of symptoms of which the cause is unknown.

However, it is now known that AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The word AIDS is still used to avoid confusion. The virus does not kill, but it damages the immune system, leaving the person vulnerable to rare infections and cancers which are life-threatening. If death occurs, it is not from AIDS, but from one of these opportunistic diseases.

HIV is transmitted in body fluids: blood, blood products, semen, vagina secretions, and breast milk. It does not appear to be easily transmitted in saliva.

The Future

Scientists using an experimental AIDS vaccine have succeeded in changing the way the body fights the AIDS virus. The discovery could open the door to new ways of treating the disease. By giving the vaccine to 30 men and women infected with HIV, researchers found that they were able to prompt the immune systems of most in the group into mounting a more sophisticated counterattack against the virus. It is too early to know if this response will help HIV-infected people to survive the ravages of the disease.

The study’s results counter the long-standing and pessimistic conviction of many AIDS researchers that there is little to be done to improve upon the immune system’s battle against the HIV virus.

New therapies such as the use of the antiviral drug AZT early in infection and inhaled pentamidine to prevent an AIDS-caused pneumonia will delay the time when HIV infection develops into full-blown AIDS.

A typical history of an acute episode of alcohol consumption as an etiological factor in the onset of secondary impotence is classic in its structural content. The clinical picture is one of acute psychic trauma on a circumstantial basis, rather than the chronic psychosocial strain of years of steady attrition to the male ego as described in the case history for the premature ejaculator.

There has been a specific history of onset of symptoms of secondary impotence as a direct result of episodes of acute alcoholic intake in 35 men from a total of 213 men referred with a complaint of secondary impotence.

The onset of secondary impotence in an acute alcoholic episode is so well known that it almost beggars description. A composite example is that of a relatively “successful” male aged 35-55, college graduate, working in an area which gears productive demand more to mental than physical effort.

The perfect environmental situation for onset of secondary impotence is any occupational hazard where demands for high levels of psychosocial performance are irrevocably a part of the nine-to-five day and frequently carry over into an evening of professional socializing.

Alcohol Impotence

Mr. A is a man with a habit of alcohol before dinner, frequently a few glasses of wine with his meals, and possibly a whisky. Alcohol intake at lunch is an integral part of his business as well.

In short, consumption of alcohol has become a part of his life.

This man and his wife leave home one night for a party and alcohol is available in large quantity. Somewhere in the late evening, the party comes to an end. Mr. A has had entirely becomes tipsy and so his wife drives them home for safety’s consideration.

His wife retires to the bedroom, and with a sense of vague irritation, a combination of a sense of personal rejection and a residual of her social embarrassment, prepares for bed. Mr. A has stumble but with the aid of a strong banister and even stronger nightcap, manages to arrive at the bedroom door. Suddenly he felt that his wife is indeed fortunate tonight, for he is prepared sexually satisfied her.

Alcohol Hangover

It never occurs to him that all she wants to do is go to bed and avoid a quarrel at all costs. He jumped into the bed, moves to meet his imagined commitment, and nothing happens. He has simply had too much alcohol.

Dismayed and confused both by the fact that no erection develops and that his wife obviously has little or no interest in his gratuitous sexual contribution, he pauses to resolve this complex problem and immediately falls into deep, anesthetized slumber.

Next day, he is further traumatized by the symptoms of an acute hangover. He surfaces later in the day with the concept that things are not as they should be. The climate seems rather cool around the house. He can remember little of the prior evening’s festivities except his deeply imbedded conviction that things did not go well in the bedroom. He is not sure that all was bad but he also is quite convinced that all was not good.

Obviously he cannot discuss his problem with his wife, she probably would not speak to him at this time. So he putters and mutters throughout the evening and goes to bed early to escape. He sleeps restlessly only to face the new day with a vague sense of alarm, a passing sense of frustration, and a sure sense that all is not well in the household this Monday morning.

He pondered about it over a drink or two at lunch and another, and while contending with traffic on the way home from work, decides to check out this evening the little matter of sexual dysfunction, which he may or may not have imagined.

Sexual dysfunction within 48 hours!

If the history of this reaction sequence is taken accurately, it will be established that Mr. A does not check out the problem of sexual dysfunction within 48 hours of onset, as he had decided to do on his way home from work. He arrives home, finds the atmosphere still markedly frigid, makes more than his usual show of affection to the children, retires to the security of the cocktail hour, and goes to supper and to bed totally lacking in any communicative approach to his frustrated, irritated marital partner.

Tuesday morning, while brushing his teeth, Mr. A has a flash of concern about what may have gone wrong with his sexual functioning after the party night. He decides unequivocally to check the situation out tonight.

Instead of thinking of the problem occasionally, his concern for “checking this out” becomes of paramount importance. On the way to work and during the day, he does not think about what really did go wrong sexually because he does not know. Rather he worries constantly about what could have gone wrong.

Needless to say, there is resurgence of concern for sexual performance during the afternoon hours, regardless of how busy his schedule is.

Mr. A leaves the office in relatively good spirits, but thoroughly aware that “tonight’s the night.” He does have vague levels of concern, which suggest that a little relaxation is in order; so he stops at his favorite tavern for a couple of drinks and arrives home with a rosy glow to find not only a forgiving, but an anticipatory, wife, ready for the reestablishment of both verbal and sexual communication that a drink ‘or two together before dinner can bring.

Probably for the first time in his life, he approaches his bedroom on Tuesday night in a self-conscious “I’ll show her” attitude. Again there has been a little too much to drink-not as much as on Saturday night, but still a little too much.

And, of course, he does show her. He is so consumed with his conscious concern for effective sexual function (the onset of his fears of performance) that, aided by the depressant effect of a modest level of alcoholic intake (modest by his standards), he simply cannot “get the job done.”

When there is little or no immediate erective reaction during the usual sexual preliminaries, he tries desperately to force the situation-in turn, anticipating an erection, then wildly conscious of its abscence, and finally demanding that it occur. He is consciously trying to will sexual success, while subjectively watching for tumescence. So, of course, no erection.

While in an immediate state of panic, as lie sweats and strains for the weaponry of male sexual functioning, he simultaneously must contend with the added distraction of a frightened wife trying to console him in his failure and to assure him that the next night will be better for both of them.

Sexual Incompetence

Both approaches are equally traumatic from his point of view. He hates both her sympathy and blind support which only serve to underscore his “failure,” and reads into his wife’s assurances that probably he can do better “tomorrow” a suggestion that no longer can he be counted on to get the job done sexually when it matters “today.”

A horrible thought occurs to Mr. A. He may be developing some form of sexual incompetence. He has been faced with two examples of sexual dysfunction. He is not sure what happened the first time, but he is only too aware this night that nothing has happened. He has failed, miserably and completely, to conduct himself as a man.

He cannot attain or maintain an erection.

Further, Mr. A knows that his wife is equally distressed because she is frantically striving to gloss over this marital catastrophe. She has immediately cast herself in the role of the soothing, considerate partner who says, “Don’t worry dear, it could happen to anyone,” or “You’ve never done this before, so don’t worry about it, dear.”

In the small hours of the morning, physically exhausted and emotionally spent from contending with the emotional bath her husband’s sexual failure has occasioned, she changes her tune to “You’ve certainly been working too hard, you need a vacation,” or “How long has it been since you have had a physical checkup?” (Any of a hundred similar wifely remarks supposed to soothe, maintain, or support are interpreted by the panicked man as tacit admission of the tragedy they must face together: the progressive loss of his sexual functioning.)

From the moment of second erective failure,

72 hours after the first erection failure, this man may be impotent.

In no sense does this mean that in the future he will never achieve an erection quality sufficient for intromission.

Occasionally he may do so and most men do. It does mean, however, that any suggestion of wifely sexual demand either immediate in its specific physical intensity or pointing coyly to future sexual expectations may produce pressures of performances quite sufficient to reduce Mr. A to and maintain him in a totally no erective state.

In brief, fears of sexual performance have assumed full control of his psychosocial system.

Mr. A thinks about the situation constantly. He occasionally asks friends of similar age group how things are going, because, of course, any male so beleaguered with fears of sexual failure is infinitely desirous of blaming his lack of effective function on anything other than himself, and the aging process is a constantly available cultural scapegoat.

Sexual Approach

He finds himself in the position of the woman with a lifetime history of non orgasmic return who contends openly with concerns for the effectiveness of her own sexual performance and secretly faces the fear that in truth she is not a woman. In proper sequence he does as she has done so many times.

He develops ways and means to avoid sexual encounter.

He sits fascinated by a third-rate movie on television in order to avoid going to bed at the usual time with a wife who might possibly be interested in sexual expression. He fends off her sexual approaches and jumps at anything that avoids confrontation as a drowning man would at a straw.

His wife immediately notices his disinclination to meet the frequency of their semi established routine of sexual exposure. In due course she begins to wonder whether he has lost interest in her, if there is anyone else, or whether there is truth in his most recent assertion that he couldn’t care less about sex.

For reassurance that she is still physically attractive, the concerned wife begins to push for more frequent sexual encounters, the one approach that the self-pressured male dreads above all else.

Obviously, neither marital partner ever communicates his or her fears of performance or the depth of their concerns for the sexual dysfunction that has become of paramount importance in their lives. The subject either is not discussed, or, if mentioned even obliquely, is hastily buried in an avalanche of words or chilled by painfully obvious avoidance.

Sexual Anxiety

Within the next 3 months, Mr. A has to fail at erective attainment only another time or two before both husband and wife begin to panic.

She decides independently to avoid any continuity of sexual functioning, eliminate any expression of her sexual needs, and be available only should he express demand, because she also has developed fears of performance.

Her fears are not for herself, but for the effectiveness of her husband’s sexual functioning.

She goes to great lengths to negate anything that might be considered sexually stimulating, such as too-long kisses, handholding, body contact, caressing in any way. In so doing she makes each sexual encounter much more of a pressured performance and therefore, much less of a continuation of living sexually, but the thought never occur to her. All communication ceases.

Each individual keeps his own counsel or goes his own way. The mutual sexual stimulation in the continuity of physical exposure, in the simple physical touching, holding, or even verbalizing of affection, is almost totally withdrawn.

The lack of communication that starts in the bedroom rapidly spreads through all facets of marital exchange: children, finances, social orientation, mothers-in-law, whatever.

In short :
Sexual dysfunction in the marital bed, created initially by an acute stage of alcoholic ingestion, supplemented at the next outing by ah “I’ll show her” attitude and possibly a little too much to drink can destroy the very foundation of a marriage of 10 to 30 years duration.

As the male panics, the wife only adds to his insecurity by her inappropriate verbalization, intended to support and comfort but interpreted by her emotionally unstable husband as immeasurably destructive in subjective content.

The dramatic onset of secondary impotence following an in stance of excessive alcohol intake is only another example of the human male’s extreme sensitivity to fears of sexual performance.

In this particular situation, of course, the onset of fears of performance was of brief but dynamic duration as opposed to those in the preceding example of the premature ejaculator whose fears of performance developed slowly, stimulated by continued exposure to his wife’s verbal denunciation of his sexual functioning.

Discussed above are examples of combinations of psychological and circumstantial factors that contribute the highest percentage of etiological input to the development of secondary impotence. Continuing through the listing of major influences there remain environmental, physiological, and iatrogenic factors.

In the final analysis:
Regardless of listing category, secondary impotence is triggered by combinations of these etiological factors rather than by any single category with the obvious exception of psychosocial influence. Once onset of erective failure has been recorded, regardless of trigger mechanism, involved, the individual male’s interpretation of or reaction to functional failure must be dealt with on a psychogenic basis.

The etiological factors recorded above are little more than categorical conveniences. From his initial heterosexual performance through the continuum of his sexual expression, every man constantly assumes a cultural challenge to his potency.

How he reacts to these challenges may be influenced directly by his psychosocial system, but of particular import is the individual susceptibility of the man involved to the specific pressures of the sexual challenge and to the influences of his background.

When considering etiological influences that may predispose toward impotence, it always should be borne in mind that most men exposed to parallel psychosexual pressures and similar environmental damage shrug off these handicaps and live as sexually functional males.

It is the factor of susceptibility to negative psychosocial input that determines the onset of impotence. These concepts apply to primarily as well as secondarily impotent men.

When considering environmental background as an etiological factor in secondary impotence, the home, the church, and the formative years are at center focus.

What factors in or out of the home during the formative years tend to initiate insecurity in male sexual functioning?

The preeminent factor in environmental background reflecting sexual insecurity is a dominant imbalance in parental relationships dominant, that is, as opposed to happen stance, farcical, or even fantasized battles for family control.

Secondary, but still of major import is the factor of homosexuality, which is to be considered in the environmental category. In no sense does this placement connote professional opinion that homophile orientation is considered purely environmental in origin.

Since homosexual activity may have derogatory influence upon the effectiveness of heterosexual functioning, the subject must be presented in the etiological discussion. The disassociations developing from homophile orientation are considered in the environmental category only for listing convenience.

Sexual Therapy

A basic premise of therapeutic approach originally introduced, and fully supported over the years by laboratory evidence, is the concept that there is no such thing as an uninvolved partner in any marriage in which there is some form of sexual inadequacy.

Therapeutic technique emphasizing a one-to-one patient-therapist relationship, effective in treatment of many other psychopathological entities, is grossly handicapped when dealing specifically with male or female sexual inadequacy, if the sexually dysfunctional man or woman is married. Isolating a husband or wife in therapy from his or her partner not only denies the concept that both partners are involved in the sexual inadequacy with which their marital relationship is contending, but also ignores the fundamental fact that sexual response represents (either symbolically or in reality) interaction between people. The sexual partner ultimately is the crucial factor.

If treatment is directed separately toward the obviously dysfunctional partner in a marriage, the theoretically “uninvolved” partner may actually destroy or negate much therapeutic effort, initially from lack of knowledge and understanding and finally from frustration.

Sexual Response

If there is little or no information of sexual import, or for that matter, of total treatment progress reaches the wife of the impotent husband, she is in a sincere quandary as to the most effective means of dealing with the ongoing marital relationship while her husband is in therapy. She does not know when, or if, or how, or under what circumstances to make sexual advances, or whether she should make advances at all. Would it be better to be simply a “good wife,” available to her husband’s expression of sexual intent, or on occasion should she take the sexual initiative.

During actual sexual functioning should she maintain a completely passive, a somewhat active, or a mutually participating role? None of these questions, all of which inevitably arise in the mind of any intelligent woman contending with the multiple anxieties and the performance fears of an impotent husband, find answers in the inevitable communication void that develops between wife and husband when one is isolated as a participant in therapy.

Of course, an identical situation develops when the wife is non orgasmic and enters psychotherapy for constitution of effective sexual function. It is the husband that does not know when, or if, or how, or under what circumstances to approach her sexually.

If he approaches his wife in a physically demanding manner, she reasonably might accuse him of prejudicing therapeutic progress. If he delays or even restrains expression of his sexual interest, possibly looking for some signal that may or may not be forthcoming, or hoping for stone manner of behavioural guideline, he may be accused of having lost interest in or of having no real concern for his sexually handicapped wife.

Not infrequently he also is accused (probably with justification) of being a significant contributor to his wife’s sexual dysfunction. But if no professional effort is made to explain his mistakes or to educate him in the area of female sexual responsivity, how does he remove this continuing road block to his wife’s effective sexual function?

Methods of therapy using isolation techniques when approaching clinical problems of sexual dysfunction attempt to treat the sexually dysfunctional man or woman by ignoring half of the problem, the involved partner. These patient-isolation techniques have obliterated what little communication remained in the sexually inadequate couple at least as often as the techniques have returned effective sexual functioning to the distressed male or female partner.

It should be emphasized that the Foundation’s basic premise of therapy insists that, although both husband and wife in a sexually dysfunctional marriage are treated, the marital relationship is considered as the patient. Probably this concept is best expressed in the statement that sexual dysfunction is indeed a husband and wife problem, certainly never only a wife’s or only a husband’s personal concern.

Dual Sex Therapy

Definitive laboratory experience supports the concept that a more successful clinical approach to problems of sexual dysfunction can be made by dual-sex teams of therapists than by an individual male or female therapist.

Certainly, controlled laboratory experimentation in human sexual physiology has supported unequivocally the initial investigative premise that no man will ever fully understand woman’s sexual function or dysfunction. What he does learn, he learns by personal observation and exposure, repute, or report, but if he is at all objective he will never be secure in his concepts because he can never experience orgasm as a woman. The exact converse applies to any woman.

Since it soon became apparent in the laboratory that each investigator needed an interpreter to appreciate the sexual responsivity of the opposite sex, it was arbitrarily decided that the most theoretically effective approach to treatment of human sexual dysfunction was to include a member of each sex in a therapy team. This same premise applied in the clinical study provides husband and wife of a sexually dysfunctional couple each with a friend in court as well as an interpreter when participating in the program.

By repute, report, observation, and by personal exposure in and out of bed, she too learns to conceptualize male sexual functioning and dysfunctioning, but she will never fully understand the basics of male sexual responsivity, because she will never experience ejaculatory demand or seminal fluid release.

For example, it helps immeasurably for a distressed, relatively inarticulate, or emotionally unstable wife to have available a female cotherapist to interpret what she is saying and, far more important, even what she is attempting unsuccessfully to express to the uncomprehending husband and often to the male cotherapist as well.

Conversely, it is inevitably simpler for any wife to understand the concerns, the fears, the apprehensions, and the cultural pressures that beset the sexually inadequate man that is her husband when these grave concerns can be defined simply, effectively, and unapologetically to her by the male cotherapist. The Foundation’s therapeutic approach is based firmly upon a program of education for each member of the dysfunctional couple.

Multiple treatment sessions are devoted to explanations of sexual functioning with concentration on both psychological and physiological ramifications of sexual responsivity. Inevitably, the educational process is more effectively absorbed if the dual-sex therapy teams function as translators to make certain that no misunderstandings develop due to emotional or sexual language barriers.

The ultimate level in couple communication is sexual intercourse. When there is couple complaint of sexual dysfunction, the primary source of absolute communication is interfered with or even destroyed and most other sources or means of interpersonal communication rapidly tend to diminish in effectiveness.

Again, this loss of warmth and understanding is frequently due to fear and/or lack of comprehension on the part of either marital partner. The wife is afraid of embarrassing or angering her husband if she tries to discuss his sexually dysfunctional condition. The husband is concerned that his wife will dissolve in tears if he mentions her orgasmic inadequacy or asks for suggestions to improve his sexual approaches.

Usually the failure of communication in the bedroom extends rapidly to every other phase of the marriage. When there is no security or mutual representation in sexual exchange, there rarely is freedom of other forms of marital communication.

It should be made abundantly clear, in context, that Foundation philosophy does not reflect the concept that sexual functioning is the total of any marital relationship. It does contend, however, that very few marriages can exist as effective, complete, and ongoing entities without a comfortable component of sexual exchange. With detailed interchange of information, and with interpersonal rapport secured between marital partners, the dual-sex therapy team moves into direct treatment of the specific sexual inadequacy brought to its attention.

After roundtable discussion, the team anticipates that both partners in the distressed couple will have become reassured and relatively relaxed by the basic educational process and will have established a significant step toward effective communication. Treatment approaches to specific sexual dysfunctions will be discussed separately under appropriate headings in subsequent individual case.

Sexual Advice

From a professional point of view, formal training contributes little of positive value if a specific discipline is emphasized to a dominant degree in the treatment of sexual dysfunction. It is current foundation policy to pair representatives of the biological and behavioural disciplines into teams of cotherapists.

From a purely practical point of view, there is obvious advantage in having a qualified physician as a member of each team. This disciplinary inclusion avoids referring embarrassed or anxious couples to other sources for their vitally necessary physical examinations and laboratory (metabolic function) evaluations. The behavioural member provides invaluable clinical balance to each team with his or her particular contribution of psychosocial consciousness.

Many combinations of disciplines should and will be used experimentally as representative individuals are available, complying with the Foundation’s basic concept of a member of each sex on each team.

The Foundation is constantly looking for professionals with the individual ability necessary to work comfortably and effectively with people in the vulnerable area of sexual dysfunction. There must be an established research interest; this requirement is peculiar to the Foundation’s total research program but is unnecessary for purely clinical programs.

There also must be an expressed interest in and demonstrated ability to teach, for so much of the therapy is but a simple direct educational process. Not a negligible requirement is the willingness to make a commitment to a seven day week or its equivalent.

Most important, the individual must be able to work in continual cooperation with a member of the opposite sex in what might be termed a single standard professional environment. Team dominance by virtue of sex-linked or discipline-linked status by either cotherapist would tend to dilute their mutual effectiveness in this particular psychotherapeutic design.

Finally, individual members of any dual sex therapy team, if they are to concentrate professionally on the distress of the couples complaining of sexual inadequacy, must be fully cognizant and understanding of their own sexual responsivity and be able to place it in perspective. They must be secure in their knowledge of the nature of sexual functioning, in addition to being stable and confident in their own sexuality, so that they can in turn be objective and unprejudiced when dealing with the controversial subject of sex at the fragile level of its dysfunctional state.

Many men and women who are neither personally secure in nor confidently knowledgeable of sexual functioning attempt the authoritative role in counselling for sexual inadequacy. There is no place in professi6nal treatment of sexual dysfunction for the individual man or woman not culturally comfortable with the subject and personally confident and controlled in his or her own manner of sexual expression.

The possibility for disaster in a therapeutic program dealing with sexual dysfunction cannot be greater than when the therapist’s sexual prejudices or lack of competence and objectivity in dealing with the physiology and psychology of sexual functioning become apparent to the individuals or couples depending upon therapeutic support.

If the therapist is in any way uncomfortable with the expression of his or her own sexual role, this discomfort or lack of confidence inevitably is projected to the patient, and the possibility of effective reversal of the couple’s sexual dysfunction is markedly reduced or completely destroyed.

At onset of the program, couples were requested to devote three weeks of their time to the therapeutic program. This concept of time commitment was maintained for the first two years of this clinical research program.

Evaluation of sexual experience made clear that three weeks was simply too long for a couple’s comfortable commitment of time away from home and, from the stand point of therapy demand also was an unnecessarily extended period. Therefore, the outer limit of time demand became two weeks and has remained so for the last nine years.

An important clinical contribution to effective therapy in sexual dysfunction can be made by scheduling husband and wife partners on a continuum; all units in the acute phase of the treatment program are seen daily (seven days a week) during their two weeks in the foundation’s intensive educational program.

One of the therapeutic advantages inherent in the two-week phase of rapid education and/or symptom reversal is the isolation of the husband and wife partners from the demands of their everyday world.

Approximately 90 percent of all couples treated by the Foundation are referred from outside the St. Louis area. These people are regarded and treated as though they were guests. Every effort is made to insure their enjoyment of a “vacation” during time spent in the city.

Care is taken to familiarize them with the geographic area and supply up-to-date information regarding restaurants, areas of interest, amusement, educational potentials, etc.

Inevitably they rekindle, in part, their own communicative interests when there is no child crying, no secretary reminding of business commitments, or no relatives or friends inadvertently intruding. With this isolation from social demand, opportunity develops for closeness or a unity that almost always is missing between marital partners facing crises of sexual dysfunction.

This arbitrary social isolation certainly is an important factor supporting the effectiveness of the therapy program. Under these circumstances protected from outside pressures the marital partners frequently accept for the first time the Foundation’s basic premise that “there is no such thing as an uninvolved partner in any marriage distressed by a complaint of sexual inadequacy.”

Sexual Interest

Yet another advantage of the social-isolation factor is its effect upon the sexual interest of both marital partners. With the subject of sex exposed to daily consideration, sexual stimulation usually elevates rapidly and accrues to the total relationship. This specific psycho physiologieal support is indeed welcome to the cotherapists dealing with the blocking of sexual stimuli in individuals distressed by sexual inadequacy.

To help develop a level of sexual interest:
for the couple which is realistic to their life style, vacations from any form of specific sexual activity are declared for at least two 24-hour periods during the two weeks, in a system of timely checks and balances. However, daily consideration of sexual matters and social isolation continue to give maximum return to this facet of the psychotherapy.

It might be held as part of this therapeutic concept that patients must have the opportunity to make those mistakes which reveal factors contributing to their particular distress. This means of learning is particularly important in reversing sexual dysfunction. In this interest, the patients are told that the cotherapists are not interested in a report of perfect achievement when they are following directions in the privacy of their own bedroom. Article Sponsored Find something for everyone in our collection of colourful, bright and stylish socks. Buy individually or in bundles to add color to your drawer!

The cotherapists are interested in couple’s making their usual errors of reaction and interaction as they involve themselves in situations that provide opportunity for natural response to sexual stimuli. If the mistakes then are evaluated and explained in context, the educational process is infinitely less painful and more lasting. There are significant advantages in this technique.

When mistakes are made, they are examined impartially and explained objectively to the unit within 24 hours of their occurrence. Additionally, they are discussed within the context of the misunderstanding, misconceptions, or taboos that may have led to or influenced their occurrence initially.

There is yet another specific advantage in daily conferences. If the distressed unit waits a matter of days after mistakes are made before consulting authority, the fears engendered by their specific episode of inadequacy or mistake in performance increase daily in almost geometric progression. In such a situation, alienation between partners is a common occurrence. By the time the next opportunity for consultation arises, a great deal of the effectiveness of prior therapy may have been destroyed by the takeover of the fears.

Fears of performance do not wait a few days or a week until the next appointment; in the meantime, the couple, separately or together, must use their own methods of coping. Most often this will be withdrawal of sexual or total communication, which places them further away from altering the sexual distress than before therapy was initiated.

When patients do not make mistakes during their acute phase of treatment, the cotherapists arrange for them to do so. It is inevitably true that individuals learn more from their errors than from their ability to follow directions effectively on the first attempt.

If marital partners reverse their sexual dysfunction and fully understand, through comparison with episodes of failure, why and what made it possible for them to function effectively, the probability of reduplicating the success in the home environment is increased immeasurably.

As evidence of the advantage to the therapeutic program of the unit’s social isolation, those couples referred from the St. Louis area require three weeks to accomplish symptom reversal rather than the standard two weeks for those living outside the local area. It is difficult to isolate oneself from family demands and business concerns if treatment is being ear tied out in the environment in which the couple lives.

For this reason it has been found more effective to see patients referred from the St. Louis area on a daily basis for the first week, there after five times a week, and to assign a total of three weeks to accomplish reversal of symptomatology. Partners in sexually distressed marriages who cannot or do not isolate themselves from the social or professional concerns of the moment react more slowly, absorb less, and communicate at a much lower degree of efficiency than those advantaged by social retreat.

The Foundation’s request for two weeks’ withdrawal from daily demands, at first rather an overwhelming suggestion to most patients, pales into insignificance when compared to the isolation demands engendered by necessary hospitalization for acute surgical or medical problems. When the couple’s presenting complaint is one of sexual inadequacy, it should constantly be borne in mind that there is not only the equivalent of two distressed people but also an impaired marital relationship to be treated.

In therapeutic procedure involving the dual-sex teams, the control within the team rests primarily with the silent cotherapist during treatment sessions. The silent cotherapist is literally in charge of each therapeutic session. He or she, as the observer, is watching for and evaluating levels of patient receptivity to therapeutic concept and to the educative and directive material presented by the active cotherapist.

The silent cotherapist’s role is to define, if possible, degrees of understanding, acceptance, or rejection of material and to identify immediate areas of concern in either member of the dysfunctional couple.

The silent observer really acts as the coach of the team. As soon as it is apparent that there is need for a situational change of pace, that the individual subject under discussion can be presented in a different, possibly more acceptable or understandable manner, or that it requires further clarification, the roles reverse and the cotherapist functioning previously as the observer, fortified and advantaged with the salient features of patient reaction to the on going situation, becomes the active discussant.

The previous discussant then assumes the role of observer. And so roles change back and forth as indicated by patient responses or the immediate need for a particular sex-linked definition or explanation of material. Much of the patient’s reaction can be identified by the observer that cannot be immediately apparent to any individual therapist simultaneously attempting to direct therapy and to evaluate levels of patient receptivity.

In the finite cooperative interaction between mutually confident cotherapists in any dual-sex therapy team, the currently dominant partner influence at any particular time is not being exercised by the one that is talking, but by the one that is observing.

Inevitably any sexually dysfunctional couple has, as one of its fundamental handicaps, insecurity in any and all sexual matters.

How often have the sexual partners asked themselves if they are really “complete” as individuals?
Has their functional efficiency been diminished in stressful situations other than in bed?
How do their patterns of sexual response compare to those of their peers?
How can a particular sexual situation or any confrontation with material of sexual content be handled without awkwardness or embarrassment?

The cotherapists encounter a multiplicity of these problems to which they can respond by holding up a professional “mirror” and helping the marital partners understand what it reflects. With the non-judgemental mirror available, constructive criticism can be accepted in the same non-prejudiced, comfortable manner in which it must be presented.

With this educational technique of reflective teaching, the distressed couple can be encouraged to take that first step that ultimately presages success in therapy for sexual dysfunction. The step consists of putting sex back into its natural context.

Seemingly, many cultures and certainly many religions have risen and fallen on their interpretation or misinterpretation of one basic physiological fact. Sexual functioning is a natural physiological process, yet it has a unique facility that no other natural physiological process, such as respiratory, bladder, or bowel function, can imitate.

Sexual responsivity can be delayed indefinitely or functionally denied for a Iifetime. No other basic physiological process can claim such male ability of physical expression.

With the advantage of this unique characteristic, sexual functioning can be easily removed from its natural context as a basic physiological response. Everyone takes advantage of this characteristic every day as he rejects or defers untimely or inappropriate sexual stimuli in order to comply with the social requirements of the moment.

Religions have found dedicated support from those willing to sacrifice their functional physical expression of sexuality as a devotion to or an appeasement for their god or gods. If the natural physiological process of human sexual response did not encompass this completely unique adaptability, the sacrifice of denying one’s sexual functioning for a lifetime could never have been made.

But the individuals who involuntarily take sexual functioning further out of context than any other are those members of couples contending with inadequacy of sexual function. Through their fears of performance (the fear of failing sexually), their emotional and mental involvement in the sexual activity they share with their partner is essentially nonexistent.

The thought (an awareness of personally valued sexual stimuli) and the action are totally dissociated by reason of the individual’s involuntary assumption of a spectator’s role during active sexual participation.

It is the active responsibility of therapy team members to describe in detail the psychosocial background of performance fears and “spectator” roles. This explanation is best accomplished by the cotherapist of the same sex as that of the individual whose performance fears are to be discussed. Again, education is the basis for therapeutic success, and the dual-sex team can best present this information by following a sex-linked guideline.

Sexual Dysfunction Treatment

In any approach to a psycho-physiological process, treatment concepts vary measurably from school to school and, similarly, from individual therapist to individual therapist. The Reproductive Biology Research Foundation’s theoretical approaches to the treatment of men and women distressed by some form of sexual dysfunction have altered significantly and, hopefully, have matured measurably during the past 11 years. There are founded on a combination of 15 years of laboratory experimentation and 11 years of clinical trial and error.

Sexual Response

When the laboratory program for the investigation in human sexual functioning was designed in 1954, permission to constitute the program was granted upon a research premise which stated categorically that the greatest handicap to successful treatment of sexual inadequacy was a lack of reliable physiological information in the area of human sexual response.

It was presumed that definitive laboratory effort would develop material of clinical consequence. This material in turn could be used by professionals in the field to improve methodology of therapeutic approach to sexual inadequacy. On this premise, a clinic for the treatment of human sexual dysfunction was established at Washington University School of Medicine in 1959, approximately five years after the physiological investigation was begun. The clinical treatment program was transferred to the Reproductive Biology Research Foundation in 1964.

When any new area of clinical investigation is constituted, standards must be devised in the hope of establishing some means of control over clinical experimentation. And so it was with the new program designed to treat sexual dysfunction. Supported by almost five years of prior laboratory investigation, fundamental clinical principles were established at the onset of the therapeutic program. The original treatment concepts still exist, even more strongly constituted today. As expected, there were obvious theoretical misconceptions in some areas, so alterations in Foundation’s policy inevitably have developed with experience.