The major symptom of depression is stripping you of the ability to enjoy things of life you do on a normal day, for instance, sex.
It’s perfectly normal to be tired, stressed, and not in the mood on some days. Everyone has days like this, but for most men, a noticeable decrease in their need for sex can point in the direction of depression.
Chronic depression would affect many areas of your life, and can even ruin your relationships. One crappy effect of depression is reducing your libido.
Depression is commonly categorized by the feeling of sadness and hopelessness and the feeling of nothingness. This is what most people know about depression, but it can manifest itself in many other ways. Surprisingly, some of the symptoms are more recognizable than others.
Medically speaking, when a person begins to show certain symptoms, like a consistent sad mood, loss of weight, fatigue, or irritability, it is usually classified as major depression. And of course, loss of interest is one of the symptoms, and unfortunately, most men don’t like to talk about it because it can be a bit tricky to treat.
The Connection Between Depression and Your Sex Drive
Depression can alter your sex drive in different ways. Depression alters with your sex drive directly, because it involves serotonin and dopamine, and they both play different roles in mood regulation and libido. So when your brain becomes unable to utilize these chemicals properly, it forces you to embrace and enjoy sex less.
It can also have an indirect effect because depression leads to fatigue, and when you want to have sex, you don’t exactly need to lack energy. Depression can also come with the feeling of worthlessness, and in that light, it can make a patient feel uncomfortable relating intimately to other people.
To wrap it up, most men feel ashamed to identify with depression, and this would only make the situation worse.
Even if depression doesn’t affect your sex drive, depression medications like antidepressants can lower your sex drive. For instance, serotonin reuptake inhibitors are very popular treatments for depression, but it can influence your sex life by decreasing your libido and making it harder to achieve orgasm.
But this is not enough reason for you not to seek treatment, there is nothing to be ashamed of because depression can be treated.
Visiting your health care practitioner and talking things through, can help you in choosing a treatment plan.
The Link between Depression and One’s Sex Life
Depression can most times have a serious impact on our sexual desires, and it can ruin our ability to feel emotionally safe with our partner and even rob us of feeling any sexual connection.
The common problems of depression regarding sex are:
Heightened Emotional Sensitivity
It’s typical for things to go wrong in a relationship at intervals, but depressed people often misinterpret these signals to be something more serious and deeper. This would cause them to go into their shell and can make them avoid sex more.
Low Energy/Fatigue
Low energy can be the leading cause of not wanting to engage in any sexual activities. Depression can cause you to sleep less, and even after having a great deal of rest, the feeling of tiredness would linger. So when you are always feeling tired, it can compromise the feeling of desire, which can impair your sexual functioning would suffer in the process.
Lack of Pleasure
When you are struggling with depression, you won’t find pleasure in doing anything, including engaging in any sexual relationship.
Difficulty with Bonding
People who are living with depression do not find the need to associate with people because they feel unworthy of love. This can cause their partners or people close to them to get frustrated that they can’t break through the shell they have created, or embrace the love being shown.
Living with depression isn’t anything to be ashamed of, and you can improve your sexual life with these tips:
A. Work on the Depression
To beat depression, it would be helpful working with a psychotherapist, because this can stabilize your food. And in the long run, you might not need medications anymore.
B. Go To Sex Therapist With Your Partner
Visiting a sex therapist with your partner can help them understand better, and this would alleviate any misunderstanding and create a more enjoyable environment. This would help build up your confidence and can increase the feeling of safety in a relationship, which is also a leading cause of depression.
