Risk Factors in Premature Ejaculation: Experimental Psychology in the Evaluation of Premature Ejaculation

Abstract

Psychological research has attempted to understand the relationship between subjective psychological experiences (perceptive, affective, and cognitive) and physical/physiological components of sexual response, including erection and ejaculation. Such research has enabled exploration and clarification of concepts related to the etiology of premature ejaculation (PE). For example, in men with PE, genital stimulation (as opposed to erotic stimulation in general) is particularly germane to dysfunctional response, with autonomic response patterns altered during the sexual response cycle. Anomalous patterns of arousal are probably involved, though not necessarily in ways that had been conceptualized originally (e.g., hyperarousal). And psychosomatic interactions between negative emotion, autonomic response, and rapid ejaculation may sustain the dysfunctional response. Such findings dispel long-standing hypotheses regarding the etiology of PE and raise new questions about the development of PE.