After several fancy dinners, a couple walks in the park, and a few glasses of wine, you’ve found yourself jumping into bed with a person you’ve never been sexually active with before. The feeling of exploring a new person with needs and desires can be very exciting, but, for some men, it can also be downright scary. For these men, even thought they certainly want to engage in sexual activity with their new partner, they find themselves unable to achieve an erection. The very though of being with someone new causes them to become so anxious, the body cannot translated sexual feelings into an erection, and it’s downright embarrassing. But this isn’t just a little hang-up for these men to deal with; anxiety over being sexual with a new partner can truly cause erectile dysfunction, and it’s a real problem.
When it comes to the penis, your brain is the end all, be all authority on achieving an erection. While the penis may be the recipient of pleasure, its up to the brain to translate this pleasurable feelings into signals that alert the penis that its time to become erect. If a man is anxious about getting sexual with a new partner, this pleasurable feelings get lost in the ether, leading to the brain not sending the necessary signals for an erection.
These feelings of anxiousness can be caused by a variety of factors; fear over sexually disappointing your new partner, worries over whether your partner will stick around after sex, or fretting that your partner will judge your sexual preferences can all lead to erectile dysfunction developing.
So, yes, new partner anxiety can lead to ED. Thankfully, by openly discussing the problem and working with a mental health expert, you can overcome this hurdle and your sex life back to normal. But don’t try to face this problem alone; ED is a problem that requires help to beat, so get to work beating it before it beats you.