BBC - Men think impotence is a psychological problem
Tuesday, August 25, 1998 Published at 18:13 GMT 19:13 UK
Many myths surround impotence
Many men mistakenly think impotence is all in the mind,
according to the first global survey of men's attitudes
towards sexual dysfunction.
The survey found that men the world over harbour the
same misconceptions about impotence.
Results from a poll of more than 4,000 men from 10
countries today showed that, on average, half the
respondents in each country thought impotence was
caused by psychological factors such as stress and
anxiety.
Fewer than 25% correctly identified high blood pressure
and diabetes as two physical conditions linked to
impotence. One in three thought impotence was a
natural consequence of ageing.
The depth of ignorance surrounding impotence has been
brutally illustrated by the death of 123 US men, many of
who took the impotence drug Viagra despite warnings
that they were at danger because of heart conditions.
Psychological cause is rare
Doctors now believe that less than five per cent of
impotence is caused by purely psychological problems.
Findings from the survey, conducted by Mori and
sponsored by Pfizer Inc, the makers of Viagra, were
presented at a meeting of the International Society for
Impotence Research in Amsterdam.
The men who took part, all aged over 40, were from
France, Germany, Mexico, Argentina, China, Morocco,
Norway, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey. Britain was
not involved in the study.
Dr Robert Krane, chairman of the department of urology
at Boston University School of Medicine and former
president of the ISIR, said: "It is time to dispel the
believe that erectile dysfunction is solely a psychological
condition or simply part of growing older, and educate
people about the underlying medical conditions and
modifiable risk factors that frequently contribute to
erectile dysfunction."
Men are ignorant
Derek Machin, clinical
director of urology at
University Hospital, Aintree,
said: "The findings are
probably about right. Men are
pretty ignorant about
themselves.
"There is a major problem
with men's health. Men are
much less knowledgeable
about their own health than
women are about their
health, or even men's health.
"Men tend to present later to their doctor and assume
nothing can be done about it. When they do finally see
their doctor it is usually because their partner has forced
them to go.
"Consequently for any given condition men tend to have
a worse outcome than women."
One in five suffer
The survey found that one in five men admitted to
experiencing impotence.
The same proportion said they knew someone who had
experienced the condition.
From a list of 12 medical conditions, impotence was
cited most frequently as the one men would be least
likely to seek help for.
Nearly half of all the men questioned said that being
impotent caused, or could cause, relationship problems.
Although 84% said they had never initiated a discussion
with their doctors about impotence, 66% agreed that
talking about the problem would be helpful.
Considerable stigma
Michele Corrado, director of health and social research
at Mori, said: "The results demonstrate that there is
considerable stigma among men around the world about
sexual health problems such as ED. Yet at the same
time, they believe this stigma could be reduced, and
more helped, if they talked about such problems."
Nearly 72% of men in Germany, 68% in Argentina, and
68% in South Korea thought impotence was caused by
psychological factors such as anxiety, stress and
depression.
Alcohol was cited as the leading cause of impotence by
64% of Germans, 58% of Moroccans and 53% of
Swedes.
More than two thirds of men in Germany and France and
nearly half of men in Argentina thought impotence was
caused by relationship problems such as lack of
attraction
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