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When you are young, it’s difficult to keep everything in proportion. Emotions run fast and hot. One minute you can be feeling great, the next it’s despair. In fact, it’s remarkable how often you hear a teen suffering some embarrassment or humiliation voice the thought, “I wish I was dead!” Fortunately, very few act on the wish. We all come through these torrid times, hopefully calmer if not wiser. Yet, there are some humiliations men of all ages find it difficult to confront without fear. Erectile dysfunction is one of the more severe tests of calmness. For better or worse, Western culture is strongly “male”. Yes, feminism assumed some importance and equality laws have followed, but the mainstream of behavior still expects the man to be dominant, not just in business but also in the bedroom. If something goes wrong with the ability to deliver erections when they are expected, this undermines a key plank in the structure holding up male self-confidence. Suddenly the man is not quite so macho. He is somehow less than a man.

For some time, the volume of evidence has been growing to prove a link between erectile dysfunction and heart disease. Indeed, the medical profession now view all men presenting with erectile dysfunction as potential heart patients until the contrary is proved. Read more…

The diagnosis of a disorder in relation to anxiety is always a question of fact and degree. It is perfectly natural for people to worry or feel anxious in different situations where a threat is present. Allowing for the sensitivity in the use of the words, our ability to foresee and predict has been essential to our evolution as a species. We survive because we see the risks in our environment and take precautions. Thus, drawing a positive line between “natural” anxiety and irrational levels of anxiety suggesting a disorder is always a matter of opinion – the victim of the uncontrolled anxiety sees the quality of life disappear, and objective observers see a need for intervention to protect the individual or others from the possibility of harm. This diagnosis can often be complicated by physical factors such as substance abuse. It may be necessary to treat the physical problems including, say, alcoholism, before or alongside the anxiety. Similarly, the presence of depression will require a different approach. Read more…