The impact of anxiety on sexual arousal in women

Bradford, Andrea; Meston, Cindy M.

doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.08.006

Cited by 134 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…This mechanism could serve to maintain and even intensify unwanted genital responding. The role of the enhanced sympathetic nervous system activity (Meston & Gorzalka, 1996) due to state anxiety (Bradford & Meston, 2006) in augmenting female genital responding has been shown in recent laboratory studies, and observed clinically for many years (Seto, 1992).…”

Section: Relevance To Psas?mentioning

confidence: 96%

Normal and Persistent Genital Arousal in Women: New Perspectives

Leiblum¹,

Chivers

2007

Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy

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Interest in women's sexual functioning has increased in recent years although the primary emphasis has been on deficits in both genital and subjective sexual response. Female sexual psychophysiology research suggests that women are capable of greater sexual responsiveness than previously thought and can experience genital response in the absence of a subjective experience of sexual arousal. Women who report relatively persistent genital arousal, both with and without accompanying distress, provide case examples of the potential for dissociation between genital and psychological sexual response. In this article, we provide case illustrations of women reporting unprovoked genital arousal both with and without distress and suggest that what appears to be spontaneous genital arousal in some women may be the result of either subconscious processing of sexual stimuli in the environment - stimuli that are either consciously unacceptable or not noticed. Finally, we suggest that there may exist three types of genital arousal in women: 1) spontaneous sensations of genital arousal that are appraised as mildly pleasurable; 2) persistent feelings of genital arousal that are experienced as mildly distracting but not especially unwelcome or bothersome; and 3) continuous, intense, and persistent genital arousal that is extremely distracting, distressing, and worrisome. A variety of psychological, pharmacological, vascular, and neurological factors may account for these differences in women's genital arousal responsiveness. However, a full understanding of the range and variation in women's sexual experience remains to be elucidated.

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Section: Relevance To Psas?mentioning

confidence: 96%

Normal and Persistent Genital Arousal in Women: New Perspectives

Leiblum¹,

Chivers

2007

Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy

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“…In other words, greater negative affect is associated with greater, rather than lesser, sexual response in these studies. Others have proposed a curvilinear relationship between negative affect and genital response (Bradford & Meston, 2006;Seto, 1992) whereby intermediate levels of anxiety are associated with increased genital response, and high or low levels are associated with lower genital response. In other research, the experience of anger and irritability has been associated with reduced subjective and physiological sexual response (ter Kuile, Vigeveno, & Laan, 2007).…”

Section: Stimulus Intensitymentioning

confidence: 98%

Effects of Gender and Relationship Context in Audio Narratives on Genital and Subjective Sexual Response in Heterosexual Women and Men

Chivers

Timmers

2012

Arch Sex Behav

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Previous research suggests that heterosexual women's sexual arousal patterns are nonspecific; heterosexual women demonstrate genital arousal to both preferred and nonpreferred sexual stimuli. These patterns may, however, be related to the intense and impersonal nature of the audiovisual stimuli used. The current study investigated the gender specificity of heterosexual women's sexual arousal in response to less intense sexual stimuli, and also examined the role of relationship context on both women's and men's genital and subjective sexual responses. Assessments were made of 43 heterosexual women's and 9 heterosexual men's genital and subjective sexual arousal to audio narratives describing sexual or neutral encounters with female and male strangers, friends, or long-term relationship partners. Consistent with research employing audiovisual sexual stimuli, men demonstrated a category-specific pattern of genital and subjective arousal with respect to gender, while women showed a nonspecific pattern of genital arousal, yet reported a category-specific pattern of subjective arousal. Heterosexual women's nonspecific genital response to gender cues is not a function of stimulus intensity or relationship context. Relationship context did significantly affect women's genital sexual arousal--arousal to both female and male friends was significantly lower than to the stranger and long-term relationship contexts--but not men's. These results suggest that relationship context may be a more important factor in heterosexual women's physiological sexual response than gender cues.

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“…Studies that focused on different types of negative affect reported a positive association between disgust and physiological sexual arousal (Heiman, 1980) and also a positive associationbetweenanxietyandbothgenitalandsubjectivesexualresponses (Beggs, Calhoun, & Wolshik, 1987;Elliott & O'Donohue, 1997;Hoon, Wincze, & Hoon, 1977;Laan, Everaerd, VanAanhold, & Rebel, 1993;Palace & Gorzalka, 1990). In addition, one study found a curvilinear relation between anxiety and genital arousal (Bradford & Meston, 2006), while others found no significant negative association between anxiety and sexual arousal (e.g., Heiman, 1980).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The Effect of Pre-Existing Affect on the Sexual Responses of Women With and Without a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

et al. 2011

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Women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at greater risk for experiencing sexual problems in their adult lives. Yet, little is known about the possible role of cognitive and affective mechanisms in the development of sexual arousal difficulties in this population. This study investigated the role of pre-existing affect (affect prior to exposure to sexual stimuli) on genital responses, subjective sexual arousal, and affect elicited during the presentation of erotic film excerpts in a community sample of 25 women with and 25 women without a history of CSA. The CSA group showed greater pre-existing negative affect and smaller genital responses to the erotic film stimuli compared to the NSA group. Findings support a moderating effect of CSA, in that pre-existing negative affect was associated with strength of genital responses in the NSA but not in the CSA group. The results did not support a mediation model of pre-existing negative affect as an explanation for smaller physiological sexual responses in the CSA group. Taken together, the findings suggest that pre-existing affect may be more relevant for women with no history of CSA and call for more research on factors implicated in impaired sexual responses in women with a history of CSA.

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The impact of anxiety on sexual arousal in women

Cited by 134 publications

References 43 publications

Normal and Persistent Genital Arousal in Women: New Perspectives

Normal and Persistent Genital Arousal in Women: New Perspectives

Effects of Gender and Relationship Context in Audio Narratives on Genital and Subjective Sexual Response in Heterosexual Women and Men

The Effect of Pre-Existing Affect on the Sexual Responses of Women With and Without a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

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