Premature ejaculation

 It is not easy to  define premature ejaculation since there are many factors involved  and what seems to be premature ejaculation for one man won't not be necessarily so in another.

Generally speaking, we can define premature ejaculation as an ejaculation which tends to occur as soon as the man receives a minimum amount of sexual stimulation, that is to say, before, during, or just after the beginning of penetration. Furthermore, in order for ejaculation to be considered premature, it must occur before the man wants the ejaculation to happen. Some Clinical Sexologists will also take into account the wishes of the partner about the moment she would like the ejaculation to happen, before determining whether it is premature or not. 

Another factor to bear in mind is the realism of the expectations relative to the length of time of stimulation prior to ejaculation. Some men believe that their partner would enjoy greater pleasure if the penetration were to last at least an hour, and think themselves to be premature ejaculators if they ejaculate after ‘’only’’ fifteen minutes of penetration. And yet, this fifteen minutes of penetration is quite adequate in itself for a good number of women. In reality, very few women would want penetration to last an hour.

In fact, even though premature ejaculation is often judged in the context of the length of time of sexual activity (and mainly of the penetration), the most important factor is the man’s ability to control the moment of ejaculation. In cases of premature ejaculation, it occurs when it occurs, and more often than not, it happens very quickly.

Premature ejaculation appears to be caused by inadequate learning of the sexual response and it is also linked to sexual anxieties.  It is important to note that there is practically no physiological reason for premature ejaculation.

It is thus futile to ask one’s doctor for treatment since there’s not much that he or she can do for you. However, since anti-depressants have a side-effect effect of considerably prolonging the period of stimulation before ejaculation can happen, some doctors do prescribe  these medications, hoping that this will be enough to allow the patient to develop greater self-confidence and to give him a chance to change. When the problem established itself after a period of normal functioning, this solution can bring good results. However, this solution, on its own, does not allow a man to acquire the ability to control ejaculation. In this case, the problem will recur as soon as the patient stops using the anti-depressants.

 A sexology approach that is very efficient with this problem is an approach developed by Jean-Yves Desjardins and which is called ‘’approche sexocorporelle’’. This approach works on helping the man to become aware of his body movements, muscle tensions and breathing patterns so that he becomes able to modify them in order to modulate his excitation and becomes able to reach orgasm and ejaculation when he wishes so, rather than when he becomes ‘’too excited’’. This approach has the merit to encourage the man to experience sexual pleasure, differently to the behavioral approach where the solution presented is to diminish the sexual excitation by diminishing the sexual stimulation and the sexual pleasure.

Most often, the best solution will be to consult a sex therapist who can guide the man though gaining ejaculation control either by the use of exercises and/or by helping him to recognize the anxieties that are behind his premature ejaculation problem.

Home

   Column themes