Psychological disorders can be defined as any disorder that leads to behavioral changes and causes significant distress and impairment of the ability to function effectively in the social domain.
According to numerous studies, the prevalence of sexual dysfunction is higher in people who suffer from any mental disorders. Sexual functioning is influenced by neurotransmitters, endocrine factors, and neuropeptides. Proper sexual functioning is one of the most important components of quality of life. The most common sexual dysfunction in men is erectile dysfunction and it is defined as a condition in which achieving and maintaining a satisfactory penile erection is a questionable aspect for a man. There are many factors that affect the penile function and psychological disorders are one of the factors that significantly affect the erectile function and leads to its impairment.
Men experience three types of erections:
- Reflexogenic erections – This type of erections are induced by the tactile stimulation of the genitals.
- Psychogenic erections – This type of erections are induced by memory or visual associations.
- Nocturnal erections – This type of erections begins with the onset of puberty and it occurs during the rapid eye movement sleep.
Erections at the time of sexual activity are usually achieved as a combination of reflexogenic and psychogenic erections, and problem in any of these can lead to erectile dysfunction.
The brain plays an important part in erectile function as during sexual arousal, a message from the brain travels down nerves to the penis and this releases neurotransmitters from the end in the nerves to the penis. The neurotransmitter which is released into the penis leads to the production of cGMP (Cyclic guanosine monophosphate) and an increased cGMP allows an increased blood flow into the penis. If the level of cGMP falls, the level of blood flow decreases and this takes the penis to a non-erect state.
