Managing Thoughts Behind Erectile Dysfunction
Despite erectile dysfunction (ED) being a physical symptom, the thoughts that you think can make the condition worse.
As you may have expected, your mental health plays a huge role in how your body performs in sexual situations. Even when there are other medical causes for ED, dysfunctional thoughts can spiral an intimate moment into a frustrated (or anxious) one.
Yet, dealing with ED isn’t an indictment of your sex life. By learning to manage some of those negative thoughts, you can help to improve the condition—and find more fulfillment in your sexual relationship.
To start you off on the right foot, here are four ways to help you handle the bombarding thoughts.
Practice Self-Care to Reduce Performance Anxiety
When you deal with ED, performance anxiety can present multiple problems. Firstly, it often paralyzes you, rendering you unable to do much of anything except worry. Secondly, performance anxiety—in true anxiety fashion—can make your thoughts spin out of control.
To battle this type of anxiety, it’s vital that you find a way to release and process those negative thoughts. A few helpful activities are to journal and meditate.
Practicing either one or both can help you to decrease the number of dysfunctional thoughts that you face. As a result, you may see improvement in your condition.
Embrace the Emotions That You Feel
It’s not uncommon to deal with feelings such as embarrassment, guilt, or shame when you struggle with ED. Keep in mind that all of these are natural emotions, and you may very well have to battle them at some point.
Rather than shuffling the emotions under the rug, though, allow yourself to experience them. Keep in mind that those feelings don’t necessarily need to set up camp.
However, acknowledging your true feelings will help them to exit your mind a little quicker. Mostly, because you aren’t wasting your time trying to fight them. Many men see an improvement in sexual performance after they’ve looked at their own emotions eye-to-eye.
Share Your Thoughts with Your Partner
Part of an intimate relationship is being able to tackle life’s challenges together. Whether those challenges present themselves at work, home, or in between the sheets, you’re both wearing the same team colors.
To help you manage some of the disruptive thoughts, try sharing them with your partner. Have a candid discussion about the fears you face. Talk with them about how it makes you feel as a man, a partner, or a lover. If this feels overly vulnerable, these types of discussions are always welcome in our couples counseling sessions.
Sharing these innermost details of your emotions will work to increase the intimacy that you share with your partner. Often, this type of vulnerability opens up a new sexual dimension that helps diminish ED, too.
Increase Other Forms of Intimacy
Although plenty of people think of sex when discussing intimacy, it doesn’t stop there—intimacy doesn’t even begin there!
One important key to help you manage any thoughts that are making ED worse is to approach treatment from all angles. By promoting all forms of intimacy in your relationship, this particular type of intimacy (sex) will benefit greatly.
Find other ways to feel close to your partner. A few examples might include giving a massage, taking a walk together, cooking dinner, talking, etc.
When you increase other ways to be intimate, you take the pressure off your mind that you “must perform flawlessly.” As imagined, this can help to keep dysfunctional thoughts at bay and improve the condition.
Take the first step…
Are you ready to start managing anxiety and dysfunctional thoughts? I am here to help. Please contact me. Let’s work together to accomplish your therapeutic goals as effectively as possible.
