Psychosocial Causes, Consequences Classification and Treatment of Erectile dysfunction

Abstract

It is a universal truth that erectile dysfunction (ED) affects human lives. It may be psychological, emotional, or social. ED describes several conditions that harm a person’s . ED is the inability to get or maintain an erection long enough to have sexual intercourse (for both partners). ED is a common condition linked to increasing age and age-related diseases. Ancient Indian Script, the Charka Samhita (volume 3, chapter 2), mention about sexuality and erectile dysfunction. Twelve varieties of aphrodisiacs are categorized by age and specific complaints of quality of erection, maintenance of erection, and premature ejaculation. Charaka advised abstinence until age 16 and after age 70 (Nag,1984). Men with ED suffer from depression and low self-esteem and experience difficulties establishing and maintaining relationships. The severity of erectile dysfunction has been classified as mild, moderate, or severe. Men who achieve satisfactory sexual performance in 7–8 attempts out of 10 are classified as having mild erectile dysfunction, those who achieve 4–6 out of 10 are classified as moderate, and those who achieve 0–3 out of 10 are classified as severe. The exact prevalence of erectile dysfunction is unknown. It is common and strongly age-related (Feldman et al., 1994), affecting more than 20% of men under 40 years of age, more than 50% of men over 40 years of age, and more than 66% of men over 70 years of age (Feldman et al., 1994; Heruti et al., 2004). It may affect 10% of healthy men and significantly greater numbers of men with existing comorbidities such as hypertension (15%), diabetes mellitus (28%) and heart disease (39%) (Feldman et al., 1994; Wagner et al., 1996).