Is male impotence a mental illness as well as a physical illness?

For men, erectile dysfunction (ED) refers to the inability of the penis to achieve or maintain an erection for a satisfactory sexual life. ED can be divided into three degrees: mild, moderate, and severe. Due to the lack of common sense about ED, many ED patients have a heavy mental burden, which affects their normal family life. They also tend to become withdrawn and irritable, which affects their interpersonal relationships.

Although psychological factors were previously believed to be the main cause of ED, the current understanding is that for most men, ED is related to many diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia), drugs, trauma and surgery. ED is also a physical and mental disease. If long-term psychological ED is not treated and counseled in a timely and reasonable manner, the condition will worsen and gradually turn into organic ED. At the same time, the incidence of chronic underlying diseases is gradually increasing in the population, especially in middle-aged and elderly men, which will greatly affect their sexual function and penile erection. For example, the ED prevalence rate of diabetic patients can be as high as 80%, and most of them are moderate to severe ED.

Ruihong's husband initially had mild ED, the most obvious evidence of which was that he had an erection in the morning and could complete sexual intercourse. As time passed, and the invisible pressure from Ruihong, the two factors combined together to promote the further decline of Ruihong's husband's erectile function, and he has never recovered since then. At the same time, Ruihong realized the seriousness of the problem and asked for treatment, but her husband was too embarrassed to go to the hospital for treatment, so he could only take Chinese medicine to nourish the kidneys and eat food to strengthen the yang. Because he could not get a diagnosis and treatment from a regular hospital, his condition was repeatedly delayed, and he became a severe ED patient.

Riyue is also an ED patient, and his wife is also at the peak of sexual needs. Although the patient complained of sudden sexual dysfunction, careful analysis revealed that the cause was relatively clear and the process was not sudden. As Riyue's position gradually rose, especially after he became the financial director, he was exhausted from work, had many social events, got drunk countless times, and did little exercise. His waistline became thicker and thicker, and a physical examination revealed alcoholic liver disease and hypertension. This kind of lifestyle and eating habits cause diseases such as alcoholic liver disease and hypertension, which can clearly cause ED. Combining the above circumstances, it can be considered that it is secondary ED, and the possibility of organic ED is greater.

There are two points worth promoting in the Sun-Moon couple's coping methods: first, the gentle and kind wife did not complain blindly, but comforted and encouraged the patient; second, both parties understood each other and recognized the problem, and actively treated it at the same time. What needs to be improved is: do not blindly take supplements, change their bad living and eating habits, strengthen physical exercise, and actively treat primary diseases such as fatty liver and hypertension. Of course, it is also necessary to go to the male department of a regular hospital for corresponding examinations to obtain reasonable suggestions and treatment measures from doctors.

The causes of ED can be divided into organic, psychological and mixed. Although men's sexual function gradually declines with age, positive measures can be taken to slow down the process before ED occurs, such as maintaining good living habits: quitting smoking, not drinking, not indulging, strengthening physical fitness, enhancing the relationship between husband and wife, improving the interest in life and not overworking, etc.

There are many signs before ED comes, such as a significant increase in the time interval between erections, a decrease or reduction in the number and hardness of morning erections, an increase in the time it takes to start an erection, and the penis quickly becomes soft and the hardness of the erection decreases after stimulation stops.

Middle-aged men who have ED should actively seek medical advice from the hospital, eat a healthy diet, quit smoking and drinking, and exercise more. If there is a primary disease that seriously affects sexual function, it must be treated actively at an early stage, with reasonable medication, and it is not advisable to blindly take supplements.