Post-sex blues common: study

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

The New Zealand Herald reports, 30 Mar 2011:

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10715946

 

A third of all women have experienced post-sex blues at some point, a new study shows, but researchers still don't understand why.

 

The period immediately after sex normally results in feelings of wellbeing, and mental and physical relaxation.

 

But the study of more than 200 young women reveals many have experienced the reverse including feelings of melancholy, anxiety and tearfulness.

 

Queensland University of Technology Associate Professor Robert Schweitzer, who carried out the research, said

32.9 per cent of respondents had experienced the phenomenon at some point.

 

That was despite the sexual interaction being otherwise satisfactory.

 

Professor Schweitzer said the cause of such negative feelings was unknown but it was clear women wanted more information about the phenomenon.

 

"Research on the prevalence and causes of postcoital dysphoria has been virtually silent but internet searches reveal information on the subject is widely sought,"

he said.

 

"It has generally been thought that women who have experienced sexual abuse associate later sexual encounters with the trauma of the abuse along with sensations of shame, guilt, punishment and loss.

 

"This association is then purported to lead to sexual problems and the avoidance of sex."

 

But Prof Schweitzer said his study had found only limited correlation between sexual abuse and postcoital dysphoria.

 

"Psychological distress was also found to be only modestly associated with postcoital dysphoria," he said.

 

"This suggests other factors such as biological predisposition may be more important in understanding the phenomenon and identifying women at risk of experiencing postcoital dysphoria."

 

The next stage of Prof Schweitzer's research will look at emotional characteristics of women who experience post-sex blues.

 

"I want to look at how women view their 'sense of self'. Whether they are fragile or whether they are strong women, and investigate whether this leads to their postcoital dysphoria," he said.

 

The study, published in the latest

International Journal of Sexual Health

, was also authored by post-graduate psychology researcher Brian Bird and the University of Utah's Professor Donald Strassberg.

[ottawaadventurer 5114]

this is very interesting.... and sad. It reveals the extent to which our society damages many girls/women.... I have been amazed at the number of women in my life that have been abused, physically, sexually, emotionally... an overwhelming majority. And the victims are not only the women themselves, but those of us who want to love them. The scars are deep and often permeate widely. We need to better as a society. Much better.

[Guest T**E******s]

I suffer from this myself when I haven't gotten off. Sometimes if you play for an extended period of time, you can get something similar to blue balls, yet you are unable to fix this by just getting off.

 

So many women are just not open with being sexual creatures, constantly being shown media suggesting they are frigid, and only men feel the overwhelming urge to f*ck non stop. Society morals play into this as well.

 

It's so important that these women find their sexuality, maybe a little Sue Johnston TV watching is in order.

[moonshine 399]

The study indicated that previous "psychological distress was only modestly associated to post-coital dysphoria", so this is not neccessarily a product of abuse.

 

The answer is quite simple and has been shown in other studies. Sex and orgasms increase the dopamine levels in your brain and naturally they have to return to normal. The brain compensates the rush by "bringing you down" in order to do this. Since everyone's chemistry is different, the come down will be more extreme in certain individuals - not unlike a drug binge where you have artificially created a high, then it wears off sending you into a downward spiral of depression.

 

Too much sex (or specifically, orgasms) can throw your mind out of kilter and act very similar to narcotics where you crave more and crash harder. Sometimes when you come down and hit those blues, your solution is to get back up again with more sex, continuing the cycle and possibly making it worse.

 

This won't apply to everybody out there, much like depression itself. It's all linked together though, this is why many people have diminished desire and sexual functionality problems when using anti-depressants.