Sexual Dysfunctions

Sexual dysfunctions are disorders related to a particular phase of the sexual response cycle. Sexual problems are often the result of simple learned behaviors and associations we make over years of conditioning. One common, yet embarrassing sexual dysfunction seen in both males and females is male/female orgasmic disorder. The definition is vague, and can be applied to dysfunctions experienced by either sex. Orgasmic disorder is defined as the persistent or recurrent delay in, or absence of, orgasm following a normal sexual excitement phase. The diagnosis of orgasmic disorder on the other hand, does slightly vary by gender. For women the diagnosis should be based on the clinician's judgment that the woman's orgasmic capacity is less than
would be reasonable for her age, sexual experience, and the adequacy of sexual stimulation she receives. For males, a prevalent disorder is determined by taking into account the man's age, and should appear to be adequate in focus, intensity, and duration. The main factors that generally cause this disturbance are attributed to marked distress or interpersonal difficulty in the suffer. Fortunately, orgasmic disorder in both sexes is not chronic or life threatening by any means, and can be easily reversed if the individual is willing to seek proper psychology care. I chose this specific disorder mainly because I would like to gain more insight on the connection between an individual's psychological distress or intense mental concern of their sexual performance, and the repercussions that those precognitions have on their physical performance. In the case of orgasmic disorder, regardless of sufficient stimulation and the absolute desire to achieve an orgasm , the individual feels that it may be deemed physically
"impossible." In general, orgasms are a common and wonderful feeling, and create closure to an enjoyable sexual experience. Not achieving orgasm can produce continue and increased distress, which is all the most reason suffers should seek professional assistance. The article entitled "Bibliotherapy in the Treatment of Sexual Dysfunctions: A Meta-Analysis," by Jacques van Lankveld, addressed a "common-sense" approach to treating sexual dysfunctions, focusing mainly on orgasmic disorders. The experimenters were testing to see if bibliotherapy, which refers to the treatment of health problems through the use of written material, such as self-help pamphlets, would prove to be more beneficial than one-on-one therapy sessions in helping individuals overcome their sexual dysfunction disorder. The predicted benefits of using self-help material over the common therapeutic approach, is the increased chance of seeking help by reducing embarrassing patient-to-therapist contact, as well as the economic advantages of purchasing moderately priced literature that could be read in the privacy of one's own home, compared to costly, and possibly emotionally distressing therapy sessions. I do not feel that the author tested his hypothesis to the best of his ability. In analyzing his abstract, it states that his data is only comprised of 397 participants. My first impression was that such a small number of participants could not by any means supply enough sufficient data based on the information gathered to be properly applied to the millions of individuals who may suffer from sexual dysfunctions. Additionally, the concluded results appeared to be ambiguous, and provided little supporting evidence of the author's hypothesis. In contrast to the ambiguous results, I am pleased to note that the article dealt almost exclusively with my chosen subject of orgasmic disorders. "Male and female orgasm disorders were studied in 87% of the studies (79% of all participants)." Although I do not feel that this single experiment brought profound improvements to the field orgasmic disorders, it is a step in the right direction to help those individuals who suffer from this disorder, and have yet to seek treatment, which could be due specifically due to emotional and or financial factors. The next article, "A Comparative Evaluation of Minimal Therapist Contact and 15-Session Treatment for Female Orgasmic Dysfunction", by Patricia Morokoff and Joseph LoPiccolo, I found more interesting as well as informative compared to the previous article I discussed. This experiment involved a total of 43 mostly married couples, in which the female suffered from "lifelong global orgasmic dysfunction, where the term global refers to the fact that orgasm does not occur in any type of sexual situation." The purpose of the experiment was to initially have the female achieve orgasm, and then eventually to determine if 4-session minimal therapist contact (MTC) would prove to be just as effective as full therapist contact (FTC). I felt that the authors did a thorough job of testing their hypothesis, and I was glad to read that there was enough consistent evidence to draw a conclusion from.
The experimenters did discover that "minimal contact therapy was found to be as effective as full contact therapy," in fact there are even indications that "minimal contact treatment may provide superior results." The better results from MCT can best explained by the female participants increased self-esteem, from achieving orgasm. The pointing being that, with the lessened therapist intervention the participant may have a attributed her sense of achievement more to her own actions and less to that of the
therapists. Again, this article does deal solely with my subject of interest, and more specifically focuses on female orgasmic disorder. This experiment was specifically designed to help females who have never previously attained orgasm to do so, either through minimal or full therapist contact. I would like to mention that this was a very credible experiment, because not only did it prove its intended hypothesis, but it surpassed it by increasing marriage happiness as well, which is definitely a note-worthy side effect of the procedure. The last article I found relevant to my topic was "Differential Effects of Sympathetic Activation on Sexual Arousal in Sexually Dysfunctional and Functional Women," by Cindy M. Meston and Boris B. Gorzalka. The two authors were testing three different groups of woman with varying sexual functioning. There were 36 total woman participants divided equally into each of the 3 groups. "Twelve women were sexually functional, 12 experienced significant impairments in sexual desire, and 12 experienced primary or secondary anorgasmia." The experiment was designed to test whether performing twenty minutes of exercise would create a noticeable increase in vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA) and vaginal blood volume (VBV) response when watching an erotic film, compared to the response without any previous exercise. The results came in and did not completely adhere to the hypothesis provided, it did to an extent.
The presence of exercise did produce a perceived difference between orgasmic and anorgasmic woman. When the participants engaged in exercise, the orgasmic woman showed an increase in both VPA and VBV response while viewing the erotic film, while the anorgasmic participants had quite a different response. Not only did there VPA not increase, it actually significantly decreased while their VBV showed no clear response to the erotic film. The authors stated that although their experiment does leave room for further research to be conducted, they were able to make the credible "unexpected finding that low sexual desire and anorgasmic participants differed in their physiological sexual responses to SNS activation strongly suggests that future research on sexually dysfunctional women should consider low sexual desire and anorgasmic women as separate experimental groups." This article was not as directly related as the previous two, but did conclude some intriguing evidence that could absolutely spur further questioning. The fact that anorgasmic women, which is my primary subject focus, should not be included in similar categories as woman who have low sexual arousal. Bases on the finding of this experiment, the physiological reactions of these two groups of woman differed greatly when exposed to the same laboratory setting, and I conclude that is a bit of data future human sex
experimenters should take into consideration. I feel after reading and close analyzing the scientific journal articles I have become more aware of the different laboratory settings that could be created in order to gain more insight and ultimately come across a cure for sexual dysfunctions, especially those involving orgasm. I am now aware of the many outlying factors that need to be taken into account and held consistent as to not interfere with experimental procedure. Reflecting upon the articles reviewed, I have discovered it to be quite shocking as to how little factual information is readily available on sexual disorders. With all our technology and knowledge, there is not any information that has proven why some woman achieve orgasm regularly, others infrequently, and some not at all. The concept is not difficult to grasp, yet there is still experiments being conducted to pin-point if sexual dysfunctions are a product of physiological or psychology disorder or combination of the two. In the future, I believe there is going to be extensive research done to better define the differences between the many sexual dysfunctions that are a common complaint and cause of emotional distress in individuals today. Based on the new information I have obtained, I think and many experimenters would agree that the guidelines that differentiate between the sexual disorders, specially those disorders of a similar nature, are too vague and makes classifying individuals into the varying categories feel too much like guess, and should have a more stable foundation, one supported by pure and consistent facts.

Gorzalka, Boris B., Meston, Cindy M. (1996). Differential Effects of Sympathetic Activation on Sexual Arousal in Sexually Dysfunctional and Functional Women. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 582-591. Retrieved December 1, 2004 from PsycINFO database.

LoPiccolo, Joseph, Morokoff, Patricia J. (1986). A Comparative Evaluation of Minimal Therapist Contact and 15-Session Treatment for Female Orgasmic Dysfunction. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 294-300. Retrieved December 1, 2004 from PsycINFO database.

Van Lankveld, Jacques J. D. M. (1998). Bibliotherapy in the Treatment of Sexual Dysfunctions: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 702-708. Retrieved December 1, 2004 from PsycINFO database.