Sexual breakdown is part of sex life. It is more visible in men but also concerns women. Knowing how to react when this happens to your partner is important. 

A sexual breakdown defined in men by a transient inability to achieve or maintain an erection is quite commonplace. About 41% of men have experienced a sexual breakdown. * After 40 years, one in three men is confronted with it. 

Women are also concerned by disorders of sexual arousal even if it is less visible in them than in men who have an erectile dysfunction. A woman may have desire but not have vaginal lubrication. Thus, as with men, it is a sexual arousal disorder and not a desire problem. These breakdowns in women are more common in women after menopause. 

* Ifop / Lilly study “She and him facing the breakdown” – April 2011. Sample of 688 people confronted with erectile dysfunction in their relationship, taken from a sample of 2015 people, representative of the French population aged 18 years and over.

Sexual breakdowns, male or female, are most often linked to fatigue, stress, alcohol consumption, a psychological problem (pressure, fear of failing, anxiety, depression, etc.).

Sexual breakdowns are more and more frequent with age. Factors can be added to age: marital problems, weight gain … Poor self-image and relationship problems can be causes of sexual breakdowns. 

It can also be a hormonal deficit. 

It is essential to tell yourself and to tell your partner that sexual breakdowns are part of sex life. This transient disorder should not be associated with a lack of desire. That’s not what it’s about. The most important thing is to maintain the dialogue, to talk about it, to play down. But it is better to avoid saying certain phases like “it will be better tomorrow or next time” because this can cause the partner to stress the performance and a new breakdown. What can be the beginning of a vicious circle, arises in humans. You can transform sexual intercourse into massages, caresses …

If the sexual failures become regular, it is then important to consult to see if there is not a physiological problem, hormonal for example. 

Sexual breakdowns are a part of sex life and there is nothing to worry about if it is occasional. On the other hand, when a sexual breakdown is recurrent in men, that is to say that there is a repeated inability to obtain or maintain an erection, it may be a problem of erectile dysfunction. . The prevalence of erectile dysfunction increases steadily with age with values ​​of 1 to 9% from 18 to 39 years, from 2 to 30% from 40 to 59 years, from 20 to 40% from 60 to 69 years and 50 at 75% over 70 years. (3) It is very often linked to an organic cause, all the more so when humans get older (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological disease, etc.). There are treatments for erectile dysfunction, including drugs called phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors including the famous sildenafil (Viagra).