Q&A Forum - Best of Elise

Screen 32 of 61

Say "erectile dysfunction" these days, and the response is likely to be "Viagra." Such is the power of advertising. But there was a time, not that long ago, when psychotherapy was the mainstay of treatment for what was then known as "impotence." Has it become outdated or irrelevant?

It shouldn't be, say the New England Research Institutes. In a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the Watertown, Mass.-based organization analyzed nearly 800 men of whom more than 160 had erectile dysfunction, and found that men who are submissive顺从 — willing to obey are much more likely to develop erectile dysfunction than those who are not -- and that problem can't be cured by the little blue pill.

Regardless, psychologists say they are feeling the pinch of the Viagra revolution. "There's a very significant drop in the number of men who come into a therapist now for ED [erectile dysfunction]," says Paul Tobias, PhD, a psychologist in private practice in Santa Monica, Calif. "Their primary response is to see an internist and get Viagra prescribed -- or not prescribed. As a psychologist, this [seems like] you deal with the symptom, not the cause. It's very easy to use a Band-Aid -- but quite often it doesn't take care of the root cause."