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Daniela Wittmann, Can Treating Male Sexual Dysfunction Destabilize a Couple’s Harmony?, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 19, Issue 7, July 2022, Pages 1067–1068, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2022.03.534
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When men come to us with sexual difficulties, we offer them methodologies that will help. We assume that in helping the man, we will help the partner, and the couple’s sex life will be salvaged. But is that always true?
How many of us have heard a wife of a prostate cancer patient react with frustration to our offer of Erectile Dysfunction (ED) treatments to him because it assumed that continued penetrative sex was of interest to her? A hypogonadal man, treated with testosterone, may feel rejuvenated, and excited about rekindling a sexual relationship. His male partner with diabetes who has low desire and erectile dysfunction himself may become distressed because of changes in sexual expectations. While these scenarios are not typical, they are by no means rare, and, frankly, we don’t ask often enough. Without realizing it, we may be destabilizing couples’ relationships by triggering sexual problems that had not been present prior to our intervention.