Majority of men experience ED at some point of their adult lives. What is important to know is that an isolated instance of failure to have an erection on sexual stimulation can be classified only as an occasional episode and not as ED, which needs to be treated. Although there is no standard timeframe for it, the problem can generally be identified as a case of erectile dysfunction if it exists consistently for about three months or more. Isolated episodes are more likely to happen due to occasional high stress, fatigue or excessive consumption of alcohol rather than due to an underlying physical cause. However, this has a flip side in which an occasional episode may cause a high level of anxiety for the sufferer creating further sexual problems and still more anxiety and still more problems. This is known as the ‘impotence domino effect’. The failure to have an erection creates anxiety that keeps increasing with each subsequent attempt and failure perpetuating and compounding the problem. ED of purely psychological origin is mostly found in young men but it may contribute to erectile dysfunction in anyone who has ED of organic origin.

Popularity: 37% [?]