7 Premature Ejaculation Mental Causes And Top 5 Treatments

If you are one of the tens of millions of American men who have premature ejaculation (PE), you may have wondered what causes your symptoms.

Experts don’t know for sure what causes a man to ejaculate too soon. But research shows that at least some of it has to do with the mind, with anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem being common risk factors.

Even when it’s caused by a mental health problem, premature ejaculation is almost always treatable.

Below, we’ll talk about what premature ejaculation is and how your mental health may affect your risk of getting it.

We’ve also talked about what you can do to treat premature ejaculation and improve your sexual function, including psychotherapy, over-the-counter products, prescription drugs, and more.

What Is Premature Ejaculation?

Early ejaculation is a common sexual issue that affects approximately 30% of adult men. It’s often called “rapid ejaculation” and is thought to be the most common problem with men’s sexual performance.

There are different clinical definitions of early ejaculation. Early ejaculation is defined by the DSM-5 as ejaculation that happens during sexual activity within about one minute of vaginal penetration, before the person wants it to, and for no clear medical reason.

During sex, it’s normal to sometimes get an orgasm and ejaculate before you want to. To be called premature ejaculation, this problem usually has to happen almost every time you and your partner have sex and causes clinically significant distress.

Early ejaculation can be mild or severe. Some men with mild PE can have sex for 30 to 60 seconds before they have to ejaculate. For some people, PE is a serious problem that can cause them to ejaculate before penetration or at the start of sexual activity.

Our guide to premature ejaculation goes into more detail about the most common signs of PE and how they may affect you if you tend to have this sexual function problem.

What kinds of mental problems lead to premature ejaculation?

A few common mental factors are:

1. Strict upbringing

This means that a man has been made to think that having a sexual relationship is a shameful thing that should only be done for religious reasons, like having children.

Another possibility is to think that sexual activity is only okay in very specific situations like marriage.

In the worst cases, the man may have been told that sexual activity is dirty and sinful and that he should avoid it at all costs.

Given this, it’s probably not too surprising that men who were raised in this way will fear and dread the sex act.

This is a common sign of early ejaculation in young men, like teenagers, who have been raised in this way or who are afraid of getting a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Another fear that people have is that they will get pregnant.

2. Sexual inexperience

Another factor is that young men, in particular, don’t have much sexual experience. Many young men put a lot of value on their sexual performance and ability to get laid, and they are often eager to show off their virility. This is tied to their sense of masculinity in general, so not being able to perform is seen as a slur on their sense of identity and masculinity.

3. Early conditioning

A man’s later sexual behavior is often affected by what he did when he was young. So, if he has done sexual things in a certain way, this is likely to affect how he acts in the future.

One example of this is quickly ejaculating to hide the fact that you are masturbating. This is also true for being afraid of being caught having sex.

What ends up happening is that the man rushes the sexual act to reach the climax quickly and finishes the act, but this makes things worse. It causes the man to get used to acting this way, which causes him to ejaculate too soon.

Once you’ve gotten used to doing something, it’s hard to stop doing it.

Some men find that their fathers behaved the same way, which could mean that it is in their genes and not something they learned. But this is only true in some situations.

4. Traumatic background or a previous event

If a man has been through a traumatic event in his life, it can cause sexual problems like ejaculating too soon. In some cases, it can lead to a permanent sexual problem or even behavior that is not okay in society.

A traumatic event can be anything from being caught masturbating to having sex with a stranger when you were a child. Male rape is another very bad thing that can happen.

Anxiety, or what most people call “nerves,” is another possible cause. If you are nervous before having sex, you will probably ejaculate too quickly.

5. Stress

Some stress is good for you because it can help you focus on a task or do better at something, like public speaking. But problems happen when stress lasts for a long time or is very strong.

This can lead to a number of health problems, like a drop in libido and trouble keeping an erection (erectile dysfunction). It can also cause you to ejaculate too soon.

If you are stressed out, for example because of pressures at work, worries about money, or problems with a relationship, this will affect how well you do in bed.

6. Depression

About 1 in 10 people has this common illness, which is serious and lasts for a long time. It can lead to a low mood, trouble sleeping, a lack of motivation, and a lower sex drive, among other things.

When a person is depressed, they often lose interest in having sex. But the signs of their illness make it hard for them to get and keep an erection.

7. Behavioral causes of premature ejaculation

There are a few behavioral factors that are often linked to relationship problems between couples when a man ejaculates too soon.

Sexual intimacy can be hurt by not talking to each other well, having underlying tensions, or harboring resentments. If one person in a couple is stressed out or unhappy, they won’t be able to enjoy sex or reach a satisfying climax.

If a man feels like he needs to perform or is worried about his relationship with his partner, this is likely to affect his ability to get an erection and/or ejaculate. Most of the time, this leads to ejaculating too soon.

How to treat mental premature ejaculation

Premature ejaculation can be very frustrating when it affects your sexual intimacy, satisfaction, and ability to keep a sexual relationship going.

Whether your early ejaculation is caused by a mental health problem or a physical one, it can be treated.

PE can be treated with a variety of methods, including therapy to deal with underlying mental health problems, behavioral techniques, over-the-counter products, and even prescription drugs. We’ll talk about these treatment options and how each can help you do better in the bedroom.

1. Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy can often help when early ejaculation is caused by bad thoughts, feelings, or mental health problems like anxiety or depression.

Psychotherapy, also known as “talk therapy,” is a method of identifying and changing negative emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.You can do it alone with a mental health professional or with other people in a support group.

Therapy can help you feel less worried about having sex and give you more confidence in the bedroom. It can also help with any mental problems that come from or are made worse by ejaculating too early.

But research isn’t clear on how well it works as a treatment for PE. For it to work, people have to follow the rules and spend a lot of time on it. There are also some signs that it might not work as well over time.

Your mental health professional may give you medicine to take at the same time to help you get more out of therapy. We’ll talk more about PE medications down below.

2. Other mental health treatments

If your early ejaculation is caused by a mental health problem like an anxiety disorder or clinical depression, your mental health provider may give you medicine to treat your mental health symptoms.

Antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs like benzodiazepines and buspirone are often used to treat mental health problems.

3. Behavioral techniques

Over the years, a number of behavioral techniques have been developed to help men with PE slow down ejaculation and orgasm. Some of these are precoital masturbation, the “squeeze” method, and the “stop-start” method.

As the name suggests, precoital masturbation is when you sex yourself to the point of orgasm before you plan to have sex. This method takes advantage of the fact that you may find it harder to ejaculate again during your refractory period. But there isn’t much information about how well it works.

In the squeeze method, you squeeze around the head and shaft of your penis as you feel yourself getting ready to ejaculate or have an orgasm. This can make you less likely to want to ejaculate, which can make sex last longer.

Stopping stimulation when you feel a sensation or orgasm coming on is part of the stop-start method. Like the squeeze technique, it’s a simple way to deal with PE that you and your partner can use during sex on its own or in combination with other treatments.

4. OTC treatments

Medications that make your penis less sensitive to pain are often used to treat premature ejaculation. These products come in sprays, creams, and wipes, and most of them have topical anesthetics that make the skin less sensitive.

For example, our Delay Spray for Men has lidocaine in it, which helps to make your penis less sensitive without making it too numb.

Even though these products won’t fix the psychological problems that may be causing your PE, they can help you feel better about yourself by delaying ejaculation and making it easier to perform in bed.

In a recent study, researchers found that a lidocaine spray significantly increased the mean time to ejaculation (IELT) and the number of times men with PE went to the bathroom.

Our guide to lidocaine spray for premature ejaculation goes into more detail about how topical PE treatments work, how to use them, possible side effects, and more.

5. Prescription medications

Even though there isn’t a specific FDA-approved drug for PE yet, a number of medications are used off-label to treat PE.

As of right now, SSRIs like fluoxetine (sold as Prozac®), sertraline (Zoloft®), paroxetine (Paxil®), escitalopram (Lexapro®), and others are the most commonly prescribed drugs for PE right now.

The way these medicines work is by making your brain and body make more serotonin. Experts think that low levels of serotonin, which shorten the time it takes to ejaculate, may cause men to ejaculate too soon.

Most SSRIs that are used to treat PE must be taken every day. You might not be able to control ejaculation better for two to three weeks after taking these medicines.

According to research, many SSRIs work well as treatments for PE. For example, a review and meta-analysis of the drug sertraline found that it lengthens the average time it takes to ejaculate and improves sexual satisfaction in men who ejaculate too early.

We offer sertraline online for early ejaculation after a consultation with a health care provider. The provider will decide if a prescription is needed.

Even though researchers don’t know for sure what causes PE, most of the research points to it being at least partly psychological.

PE can be caused by a number of mental health problems, such as anxiety, severe stress, depression, and low self-esteem. Some sex-related thoughts and actions, such as a lack of confidence or having unrealistic expectations, may also play a role.

If you ejaculate early and think it might be because of a mental health problem, you might want to talk to a mental health professional.

You can do this by getting a referral from your primary care provider or by using our online mental health services from home. With our range of treatments for premature ejaculation, you can also get medications that have been shown to work.

With the right mix of mental health care and medication, you can definitely get your PE under control and have a satisfying, fulfilling sex life.