Personal factors that contribute to or impair women’s ability to achieve orgasm

Abstract

This work aims to identify factors that contribute and those that impair the ability to experience orgasm during sexual activity. It compared women (n=96) aged 18-61 (M=38.5 years) in a stable relationship that, after a normal arousal phase, do not have an orgasm (OD) with those that do (OA) regarding sociodemographic data, sexual frequency, talking about sex with their physician, talking about sex with their partner, sexual education, masturbation, sexual desire, sexual satisfaction, depression and anxiety. We found differences between the OD and OA groups with regard to level of education (P=0.022), sex education during childhood and/or adolescence (P<0.001), masturbation (P=0.017), sexual satisfaction (P<0.001), anxiety (P<0.001) and sexual desire (P<0.001). The final model of logistic regression for orgasm problems included the variables 'masturbation', 'high school', 'sexual desire' and 'anxiety'. Orgasm difficulties are influenced by personal factors, such as anxiety and low sexual desire. Increased levels of anxiety also increase orgasmic difficulties. Women who masturbate and/or have completed high school are considerably more likely to reach orgasm during sexual activity.

A treatment model for anxiety-related sexual dysfunctions using mindfulness meditation within a sex-positive framework

“…Regarding desire, Beck and Bozman (1995) found that subjective reports of anxiety decreased subjective reports of desire for both men and women. Similarly, de Lucena and Abdo (2014) found that increased levels of anxiety increased women's difficulty reaching orgasm. Finally, anxiety about pain may come from fear about experiencing pain during sexual activity, which might be due to a number of negative past experiences or a generally high sensitivity to pain (Basson, 2012).…”

“…Bradford andMeston (2006, p. 1068) describe state anxiety as "an acute emotional response characterized by subjective feelings of apprehension" and trait anxiety as "a stable measure that reflects an individual's dispositional tendency to experience state anxiety." Erectile dysfunction (ED) (Laurent & Simons, 2009;McCabe & Connaughton, 2014), premature ejaculation (PE) (McCabe & Connaughton, 2014), vaginismus (Watts & Nettle, 2010), female orgasm disorder (de Lucena & Abdo, 2014;Graham, 2010), and dyspareunia (Schnatz, Whitehurst, & O'Sullivan, 2010) have been found to either be exacerbated or maintained when a person has higher levels of state anxiety or anxiety sensitivity but less often for people with trait anxiety. The experience of anxiety affects four domains of sexual dysfunction arousal, pain, desire, and orgasm, and effects how therapist may treat a dysfunction (Laurent & Simons, 2009).…”

Female Sexual Functioning, Self-genital Image and Sexual Anxiety: Mediating Role of Awareness the Moment

“…This contraction of the vagina muscles and lack of adequate moisture in female makes it extremely difficult for them to engage in vaginal ingestion, which causes severe pain, lack of orgasm, and failure in sexual function. This defeat for female means sexual incompetence and makes it possible to avoid sexual intercourse in order to avoid this painful experience that can become a permanent cycle (Bigras, Daspe, Godbout, Briere, & Sabourin, 2017;Lin, Huang, & Chu, 2017); (Bigras, Godbout, & Briere, 2015;Bradford & Meston, 2006;Brassard, Dupuy, Bergeron, & Shaver, 2015;De Lucena & Abdo, 2014;Purdon & Watson, 2011;Van Minnen & Kampman, 2000;Watts & Nettle, 2010).…”

Prevalencia de orgasmo en mujeres universitarias de Bucaramanga (Colombia), 2013

“…Se ha descrito que existen factores interpersonales, intrapersonales y socioculturales que influencian la percepción subjetiva del orgasmo en las mujeres (7,8), también se ha descrito que la disfunción orgásmica afecta la salud y calidad de vida de las mujeres (9,10). Los problemas para alcanzar el orgasmo se encuentran clasificados en el Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) como una disfunción sexual que requiere tratamiento (11), y se han propuesto estrategias de manejo psicológico (12) y ginecoló-gico de las disfunciones orgásmicas femeninas (13).…”