Description, causes, prevention, treatment and medicines
frigidity
Frigidity also known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder or inhibited sexual desire is considered a sexual dysfunction and is characterized as a lack or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity, as judged by a clinician. For this to be regarded as a disorder, it must cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulties and not be better accounted for by another mental disorder, a drug (legal or illegal), or some other medical condition. A person with ISD will not start, or respond to their partner’s desire for, sexual activity. Other terms used to describe the phenomenon include sexual aversion and sexual apathy.
Causes
There are some factors that are believed to be possible causes of frigidity in women. As with men, various medical problems, psychiatric problems (such as mood disorders), or increased amounts of prolactin can cause frigidity. Other hormones are believed to be involved as well. Additionally, factors such as relationship problems or stress are believed to be possible causes of reduced sexual desire in women. According to one recent study examining the affective responses and attentional capture of sexual stimuli in women with and without frigidity, women with frigidity do not appear to have a negative association to sexual stimuli, but rather a weaker positive association than women without frigidity.
Diagnosis
Female sexual interest/arousal disorder is defined as a “lack of, or significantly reduced, sexual interest/arousal”, manifesting as at least three of the following symptoms: no or little interest in sexual activity, no or few sexual thoughts, no or few attempts to initiate sexual activity or respond to partner’s initiation, no or little sexual pleasure/excitement in 75%-100% of sexual experiences, no or little sexual interest in internal or external erotic stimuli, and no or few genital/nongenital sensations in 75%-100% of sexual experiences.
For diagnoses, symptoms must persist for at least six months, cause clinically significant distress, and not be better explained by another condition. Simply having lower desire than one’s partner is not sufficient for a diagnosis. Self-identification of a lifelong lack of sexual desire as asexuality precludes diagnosis.
Treatment
Frigidity, like many sexual dysfunctions, is something that people are treated for in the context of a relationship. Theoretically, one could be diagnosed with, and treated for, frigidity without being in a relationship. However, relationship status is the most predictive factor accounting for distress in women with low desire and distress is required for a diagnosis of frigidity. Therefore, it is common for both partners to be involved in therapy. Typically, the therapist tries to find a psychological or biological cause of the frigidity. If the frigidity is organically caused, the clinician may try to deal with that. If the clinician believes it is rooted in a psychological problem, they may recommend therapy for that. If not, treatment generally focuses more on relationship and communication issues, improved communication (verbal and nonverbal), working on non-sexual intimacy, or education about sexuality may all be possible parts of treatment. Sometimes problems occur because people have unrealistic perceptions about what normal sexuality is and are concerned that they do not compare well to that, and this is one reason why education can be important. If the clinician thinks that part of the problem is a result of stress, techniques may be recommended to more effectively deal with that. Also, it can be important to understand why the low level of sexual desire is a problem for the relationship because the two partners may associate different meaning with sex but not know it.
Medications
A few studies suggest that the antidepressant, bupropion, can improve sexual function in women who are not depressed, if they have frigidity.
Flibanserin is the first medication approved for the treatment of frigidity. It is only slightly effective over placebo, having been found to increase the number of satisfying sexual events per month by 0.5 to 1. The side effects of dizziness, sleepiness, and nausea occur about three to four times more often. Overall improvement is slight to none.