Low interest in sexuality and mental illness, do you feel there is a link between those in your daily life?

[fireflame]

I find I have maybe interest in sexuality but very low compared to other people. I even tend to find it potentialy depressing as leading to the "animal triste post coitum"feeling, which can be quite intense and a reminder of your own mediocrity, a strange feeling of being/feelling sulied from the inside, because before you thought you wanted it, and after it happens you think "how could I want intensely something like that"? I somehow feel this is related to my depression and my other mental conditions and the feeling society tries to sell me something I don't feel interested in...

I even feelirritated at shows when they talk about it, because i am not part of it, so it feels invalidating.

 

[Sulik2]

Therapy is great, sounds like you might need some to figure out your feelings towards sex. Also SSRIs fuck up sex drive if your are on those.

 

[Sera]

I'm having a little bit of trouble parsing this

 

[Xiaomi]

Low libido is normal in many people; there's nothing wrong with not wanting sex, any more than there is wrong with wanting sex. People are wired to find all kinds of things sexy or unsexy, and it's not far-fetched to me that many, many people would be entirely disinterested in it.

It only becomes a problem if it's causing some kind of pain, and it sounds like it might be? It's hard to tell unless you give a better idea of what you mean.

 

[fireflame]

Therapy is great, sounds like you might need some to figure out your feelings towards sex. Also SSRIs fuck up sex drive if your are on those.

Click to shrink...

Yes I can feel their impact on chemistry.

Low libido is normal in many people; there's nothing wrong with not wanting sex, any more than there is wrong with wanting sex. People are wired to find all kinds of things sexy or unsexy, and it's not far-fetched to me that many, many people would be entirely disinterested in it.

It only becomes a problem if it's causing some kind of pain, and it sounds like it might be? It's hard to tell unless you give a better idea of what you mean.

Click to shrink...

I am not sure myself,what I feel is I don't relate to the ideal of intense sexuality I see promoted on TV. What you say makes sense, but medias seem to only emphasize one discourse, or at least they forget to point out not everyonbe has interest in sexuality.

 

[Deleted member 60295]

Oh, very much so. Not the autism mind you. I was diagnosed at the age of eight, and I've never once had a problem busting a nut... until late this year, where the generalized anxiety disorder I assume I now have as well (haven't been officially diagnosed thus far) has started screwing with my libido. It's the latest of, like, five or six physical symptoms that I've come down with since I starting having chronic issues with anxiety.

They're all fairly manageable, so I'm still able to work full time and go to school on top of it... but nonetheless, this latest side effect really fucking bites. Cause I'm otherwise an extremely sexual dude, especially now that I no longer feel the slightest shame about my natural inclinations.

 

[Xiaomi]

I am not sure myself,what I feel is I don't relate to the ideal of intense sexuality I see promoted on TV. What you say makes sense, but medias seem to only emphasize one discourse, or at least they forget to point out not everyonbe has interest in sexuality.

Click to shrink...

This might sound patronizing -- I don't mean it to be -- but you can't ascribe this much meaning to TV depictions of sex. A huge chunk of what's on TV is meant to sell you things and make you feel inferior if you don't have these things, and that includes sex. The healthiest depictions of sex I find come from more literary sources: poetry, literary fiction, drama, that kind of thing, not two hotties playing grab-ass on network or basic cable TV. There's so much of an internal world behind sex, for some people, that is more serious and more meaningful than can be shown on 30-minute TV shows.

There are a million great reasons not to have sex, and you shouldn't feel any less complete or important as a person because of not really being into it the way you see other people are.

 

[Biggersmaller]

First: A "normal" libido is entirely decided by the social norms of the day. You should not feel shame for lacking or having an appropriate sex drive.

I once had a summer job assisting teens/YA with mental illness. Understand, these people had a very compulsive libido that was difficult for them to control. Back then (2000-2005), these extremely frustrated clients were not allowed to be alone in a locked private home bathroom for fear they may be "secretly masturbating".

My understanding is that this same program has now drastically changed that approach over the years.

 

[Spinluck]

Absolutely.

Intimacy >>> Sex anyway. At least for me.

 

[Deleted member 6582]

Depression can take a lot of forms and basically all of them wind up with you finding yourself inadequate. It's interesting you feel strongly about it one way or the other, unless it's physically causing lifestyle problems (eg. with romantic partners). Either way I think treating the underlying mental illness and therapy will help. There are many things society projects that are easy to ignore but if you find that they aren't, I think that feeling it gives you is what you may choose to focus on.