Sexual Dysfunction: What is it?

Sexual dysfunction or sexual malfunction refers to the difficulty experienced by an individual or couples during the stage of normal sexual intercourse; it can include difficulties in achieving sexual desires, arousal or orgasm. These difficulties can give the person or the couple some dissatisfaction and distress. It must be pointed out though, that a condition can only be considered as a sexual dysfunction if it causes unpleasant effects.

Let’s say, if both of the couple are contented to live their relationship without sexual activity, then conditions like vaginal dryness or erectile dysfunction would not be considered as sexual dysfunction. Similar to a woman who’s not involved in a relationship will not be worried about her low level libido. However, if this woman finds a partner who has a very active sex life, her low libido may affect their sexual relationship and may become a problem.

Unlike other health problems like high blood pressure or diabetes, sexual problems or dysfunctions aren’t something that most people feel at ease of sharing or talking about. Hence, people who have these problems tend to suffer silently. If not all, most of us are looking for an active and healthy sex life, but when sexual problems or dysfunctions arise, we don’t know where to turn to. Some believe that the loss of sexual drive is unavoidable and are just part of ageing that’s why they tend to resign themselves to a sexless life. Others are just embarrassed to seek advice, but these just strengthen the feelings of frustration, anger and inadequacy.