Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder seems to be a bit of a hot topic at the moment. Is it a psychological condition that does not need to be treated physically or a psychological condition with physical manifestations that can be abated with the right kind of treatment? This is the question that is causing such controversy and diversity of opinions.
Who is making the headlines on this topic? It seems male doctors, journalists and academics are doing most of the talking and funnily enough they suggest that the condition should not be treated with drugs as the manufacturing of these drugs only serves to satisfy the appetite of a population that doesn’t really need help but are being made to think they need help by the greedy pharmaceutical companies. It has even been suggested that Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder is something that has been invented by the pharmaceutical companies.
I wonder if they would say the same to their male erectile dysfunction patients who often have no medical reason for their sexual dysfunction but are experiencing ED as a direct result of their psychological disposition, anxiety or fear.
Women who do not want to have sex anymore cannot simply shut down. Sex is a huge part of every relationship and it is important for a woman to have the opportunity to rectify any problem as a result of having a low libido in order to save her relationship as well as to feel good about herself.
In order to be diagnosed as having HSDD one must experience a marked distress with this condition and it must not be associated with any other disorder or psychological symptom such as depression or caused as a result of the consumption of prescription or illegal substances.
When HSDD was first identified, it was known as frigidity and was defined so by men, according to the feminists, as the failure of women to have vaginal orgasms. In the beginning there were two forms of sexual dysfunction in human beings: In women it was frigidity and in men it was impotence. It was not until the late seventies that the experience was labelled as a disorder.
Ray Moynihan, of ‘Sex, Lies and Pharmaceuticals’ fame, claims that there are no reasonable biological markers for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder in women. His book promotes the idea that it is the pharmaceutical companies who are inventing this condition with the hope of making millions from the treatments in development.
Dr. Sandy Goldbeck –Wood, a specialist in psychosexual medicine, speaks from another perspective and explains that doctors are seeing patients who are worried about losing their partners as a result of their lack of sexual desire. Doctors want to help these patients but knowledge of the subject and the availability of successful treatments are limited. There is another way to deal with this limiting condition other than to ignore it or fob it off as a quirk like men have done for decades. Women should have the choice to treat the condition. Instrinsa is a prescription medication for treating of HSDD and is a form of hormone replacement therapy. This type of therapy will only work if the lack of sexual desire is a result of low testosterone levels however this is only one of many reasons for low libido. Another treatment called Flibanserin has recently been rejected by the FDA in the USA but it is yet to be assessed in the EU. A combination of research into new treatments and more acceptance of female sexual dysfunction as a treatable condition can only serve to ease the frustrations of the women who suffer, most of the time in silence.