Postcoital Dysphoria: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

Postcoital Dysphoria – Postcoital dysphoria is a feeling of depression or anxiety in women and sometimes in males as well after they complete sexual intercourse. Postcoital dysphoria (PCD) is mostly common in women but few males also go through this.

According to a study conducted by PubMed Central, In every 300 females, 46% of females experience PCD at least once in life and 5% once in a week. There is another study by PubMed Central, States that 41% of the male population feels PCD once in a lifetime after sexual intercourse, while 3% of the male population experiences regular PCD.

What is Postcoital Dysphoria?

Postcoital dysphoria is a condition where a person feels sad, depressed, anxious, and irritable after they complete sexual intercourse or masturbation. This usually happens when a person has consensual sex which includes harassment, forced intercourse, hormone response, etc. You might go through some panic attacks if you have been experiencing it for very long.

A study reveals that most of the population in the world experience PCD once in life. This problem can cause distress in your relationship and might be in your personal life as well.

Why does postcoital Dysphoria occur?

Here are some reasons why postcoital dysphoria occurs.

Sexual Trauma – A person may feel or experience postcoital dysphoria if he /she had a past trauma in their sexual relationship. Even if a person had satisfied sex might feel postcoital dysphoria. Postcoital dysphoria can happen if a person experiences some familiar smell, seen, thoughts, etc that reminds him/her of past traumas.
Hormone Change – There are several types of hormonal changes when you are sexually connected to a person such as oxytocin, and dopamine. Sometimes, the increase in hormones affects your mood. You may feel sad, depressed, or anxious. The orgasm during sexual intercourse increases the flow of oxytocin and dopamine in the body.
Sexual Disorder – There are many people who go through some sexual disorder when they don’t feel the same as other people while having intercourse. Some people feel depressed about having sex, sexual performance, body image, etc. These problems might cause a person to experience Postcoital Dysphoria.
Relationship Issues – Sometimes, there are situations where a person feels unsatisfied after having sex. This brings relationship issues between partners and causes a feeling of dissatisfaction. However, postcoital dysphoria is not caused due to dissatisfaction but may be in the situation of good sex. You must communicate with your partner and if the situation gets serious you must talk to your healthcare provider.

Symptoms of postcoital dysphoria

The symptoms of postcoital dysphoria may vary from person to person but here we will be discussing the common symptoms faced by people around. Here are some common symptoms discussed:

Anxiety
Irritability or mood swings
Sadness
Emptiness or disconnection
Headache
Difficulty in sleeping
Nausea
Fatigue
Crying
Muscle tension

Diagnosis of postcoital dysphoria

Postcoital dysphoria does not come with specific treatment but when you visit your health care provider they can treat it with several nonspecific treatments such as therapist intervention and self-help strategies.

Therapist intervention includes the therapist who helps you in getting out from various traumas that you have been through in your past. The therapies are of different kinds such as individual therapy, trauma therapy, and couple therapy. You can choose any of the therapies to overcome your condition.

Self-help strategies include healing by yourself own selves where you can take several measures to recover from PCD such as communicating in a better way than earlier, maintaining your journal, making yourself more comfortable with society, prioritizing yourself, and making daily affirmation to yourself. These can help you boost yourself from postcoital dysphoria.

Causes of postcoital dysphoria

There are several reasons why a person has to go through a condition called postcoital dysphoria. Some of the factors that focus on this aspect are discussed below:

Abuse – There are many people around the world who faced criticism and child sexual abuse in their earlier ages. These abuses become a nightmare and a fear of how their sexual life would exactly be. It makes them feel depressed or anxious when they come into any related situations like that.
Regular Anxiety & Depression – If a person goes through regular anxiety or depression there are chances that the person might face this problem in their sexual life also. The person may be diagnosed with PCD if they feel the same, you must check on a doctor to take care of the same.

A note from kamarth

Symptoms of sadness and general anxiety are frequently associated with postcoital dysphoria. Antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be beneficial if you are also dealing with these symptoms consistently in other areas of your life. You might want to talk about this with your therapist, who might recommend that you see a psychiatrist for additional treatment.

Some Additional Doubts

Question: Does mental health affect postcortial dysphoria?
Answer: Yes, it does affect a person in a way that if a person feels depression, sadness, or any kind of irritation then there is an 88% chance that the person might experience postcoital dysphoria. You must check with the health care provider if you feel it regularly.

Question: How do you deal with postcoital dysphoria?
Answer: The best way to deal with this condition is to talk to your therapist who will help you understand things better but if you want to heal on your own, you can opt for socializing yourself, writing journals, communicating with your partner, and many more things as mentioned above.

Question: What are the reasons for a person to feel sad after sex?
Answer: There may be several reasons for a person to face such a situation. Some of the reasons could be less orgasm which ultimately makes the person feel irritated, the relationship issues could be a factor in feeling insecure and depressed after having sex, there may be some situations or events in the past which may trigger the person while having sex or after having sex, sexual dissatisfaction between partners could be a major reason among all.

Question: How do you find a good therapist for healing from postcoital dysphoria?
Answer: You must do research on how you find a therapist that suits you. Firstly, you must choose a therapy that suits you best because there are various types of therapies that you can opt for. Select the fee for the therapist that you can afford. Talk to the therapist, and ask them questions on how they can help you heal from the postcoital dysphoria. Talk to various therapies and choose the one that you find is the best for you.

Question: Is PCD common among people?
Answer: Yes, it is very common among people around the world as 41% of females in every 400 females experience it once in their lifetime, and the same goes for the male. However, it is not very common in males. The ratio for males in PCD is very low but not too much in number.

Reference Links:

Postcoital Dysphoria: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

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