American Women’s Sexual Concerns through a Sociopolitical Lens

Background: Depressive and anxious symptoms are common psychological reactions to infertility and Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR). No study compared depressive and anxious symptoms and infertility stress dimensions across homologous and heterologous MAR, nor explored the specific role of the infertility stress dimensions in the two pathways. Homologous MAR may be associated with higher distress as the couple feel that the responsibility to reproduce and carry on the family line falls on them, and they feel inadequate if they are unable to bear children. Objective: We compared depressive/anxious symptoms and infertility stress dimensions between individuals undergoing homologous and heterologous MAR. We also explored the association between the infertility stress dimensions and depressive/anxious symptoms separately in two MAR pathways. Methods: Two-hundred twenty-six individuals participated [mean age = 39.71 years; 54.45% women]: 118 (52.2%) in homologous and 108 (47.8%) in heterologous MAR. The Fertility Problem Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and State and Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y form were administered. Results: Individuals in homologous MAR had higher depressive/state-trait anxious symptoms, general infertility stress, and infertility-related sexual concerns than those in heterologous MAR. In homologous MAR, social and sexual concerns were associated with depressive/trait anxious symptoms while gender had no effect. In heterologous MAR, male gender was associated with lower state anxious symptoms while infertility stress dimensions had no effect. Conclusion: Individuals in homologous MAR are a more distressed subgroup which requires a tailored supportive psychological intervention specifically on sexual and social concerns.

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Individual concerns modulate Pavlovian-instrumental transfer for sexual outcomes

10.31234/osf.io/hucbf ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yoann Stussi ◽

Vanessa Sennwald ◽

eva pool ◽

Sylvain Delplanque ◽

Tobias Brosch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Strong Impact ◽

Sexual Stimuli ◽

Reward Seeking ◽

Sexual Outcomes ◽

Sexual Concerns ◽

Instrumental Action ◽

Current Concerns ◽

Insight Into

Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning are fundamental processes helping organisms learn about stimuli that predict rewards in the environment and actions that lead to their obtainment. The interplay between these two forms of learning notably exerts a strong impact on reward-seeking behaviors. However, mechanisms modulating this impact are not well elucidated. Here, we examined whether the influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental action for sexual rewards is determined by their relevance to the individual’s sexual concerns in humans. In two experiments, we manipulated the relevance of sexual outcomes in a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer paradigm by recruiting heterosexual and homosexual men and selecting sexual stimuli for each sexual orientation. Results showed that Pavlovian-instrumental transfer effects were enhanced in response to the cue that was associated with the most relevant sexual outcome to participants’ sexual orientation compared to the cue associated with the less relevant sexual outcome, thereby reflecting that inter-individual differences in sexual concerns modulated these effects. These findings suggest that motivational control of reward-related instrumental action triggered by Pavlovian stimuli in humans relies on inter-individual differences in current concerns and can extend beyond homeostatic needs such as hunger or thirst. This fosters further insight into the mechanisms underlying human reward-seeking behaviors.

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Older Women’s Sexual Desire Problems: Biopsychosocial Factors Impacting Them and Barriers to Their Clinical Assessment

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2014/107217 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Michelle Maciel ◽

Luciana Laganà

Keyword(s):

Sexual Desire ◽

Sexual Interest ◽

Care Providers ◽

Medical Settings ◽

Single Sex ◽

Women’S Sexual Health ◽

Assessment And Treatment ◽

Proper Training ◽

Sexual Issue ◽

Sexual Concerns

Sexual desire is a major component of sexuality at any age, and inhibited desire is one of the main sexual dysfunctions reported by older women. Nonetheless, in medical settings, for a variety of reasons discussed herein, its assessment—as well as the assessment of older women’s sexual health in general—is typically avoided or conducted by asking a single sex question. In this paper, we have reviewed the literature (most of which is preliminary in nature) regarding the main psychosocial and health factors that could impact older women’s sexual desire, as well as potential obstacles to the assessment and treatment of this geriatric sexual issue. It is certainly advisable that medical care providers who are uncomfortable discussing older women’s sexual concerns be prepared to make appropriate referrals to clinicians who possess the proper training to accurately assess and treat sexual challenges (and female sexual interest problems in particular) in this neglected patient population.

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Patient reported sexual concerns in routine cancer care.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2021.39.15_suppl.12128 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. 12128-12128

Author(s):

Brittany Lees ◽

Smitha Vilasagar ◽

Jubilee Brown ◽

Peter E Clark ◽

Maxim McKibben ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Health ◽

Cancer Care ◽

Unmet Need ◽

Well Being ◽

Cancer Site ◽

Cancer Center ◽

Cancer Symptoms ◽

Health Concerns ◽

Patient Reported ◽

Sexual Concerns

12128 Background: Sexual health is an important component of overall well-being and can be adversely impacted by chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, in addition to the psychological effects of cancer treatments. Sexual health is challenging to discuss and may be overlooked or avoided during cancer care. Methods: Patients presenting for consultation in an outpatient multisite cancer center completed electronic distress screening (EDS) between January 2017 and December 2020. The EDS contains 42 questions; demographic information, cancer symptoms and side effects, and psychosocial factors. The EDS is completed by patients before a clinical encounter for early symptom identification and intervention. We conducted a retrospective data analysis of sexual health concerns (>5; scale 0-10) and evaluated patient characteristics and clinically relevant distress (>4; NCCN Distress Tool), depression risk (>3; PhQ2), and anxiety risk (>3; GAD2). Our primary aim was to identify the prevalence of sexual health concerns. The secondary aim was to examine the relationship between sexual health and emotional well-being. Results: 57,375 EDS screens were completed. 13,950 patients (24%) reported sexual concerns or lack of interest in sex (>5) within the last 2 weeks. The frequency of these concerns at specific clinics ranged from 12% to 48%, with the highest rates at Palliative care (39%) and Psycho-Oncology (48%) clinics. Genitourinary (30%), Gynecologic (27%) and Gastroenterology (26%) reported the highest frequency of sexual concerns from cancer site specific clinics. Males reported a higher rate of sexual problems compared to females (30% vs 21%, p < 0.001), but a lower rate of relationship concern distress (12% vs 13%, p < 0.05). Patients with a risk for depression (n = 9,126) or anxiety (n = 10,809) had higher rates of self-reported sexual concerns than those with a negative screen (44% vs 21% depression, p < 0.001; 40% vs 21% anxiety, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Sexual health is a concern for approximately one-quarter of patients presenting for cancer care. Sexual health concerns were prevalent across cancer sites. Patients with positive screens for anxiety and/or depression have nearly double the rates of reported sexual health concerns. Sexual health is a current unmet need that impacts cancer patients and warrants attention.

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Neoliberalism and its Homophobic Discontents

interalia: a journal of queer studies ◽

10.51897/interalia/nlyi8464 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Volker Woltersdorff aka Lore Logorrhöe

Keyword(s):

Risk Taking ◽

The Other ◽

Right Wing ◽

The European Union ◽

Sexual Identities ◽

Political Critique ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

European Values ◽

Sexual Concerns ◽

The One

This article addresses a lack in both queer and anti-neoliberal political critique: on the one hand, queer theoretical approaches neglect questions of production and class, on the other hand economical analyses all too often ignore the question of sexuality. The author argues that this blank is symptomatic for the current regime that reins the construction of sexual identities and he asks why it is so difficult to do otherwise. While religious fundamentalists, nationalist and racists unanimously reject both homosexuality and neoliberalism, official neoliberal discourse in the European Union includes tolerance of homosexuality within its list of allegedly European values. In Germany and in the Netherlands, right wing liberal policies thus give anti-homophobic struggles a nationalist and racist stance, constraining them to co-opt neoliberalism, consumerism, nationalism and racism. Finally the article discusses whether the notion of precariousness could help to link economic and sexual concerns such a way that the dialectics of individuality and risk taking in neoliberalism are illustrated.

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