(Photo credit: QUT Marketing & Communication)
QUEENSLAND, Australia — Having sex may feel like a badge of honor for many men, but for others, it’s an act that, once finished, brings about intense feelings of sadness. In a new study, researchers for the first time ever have identified that women aren’t the only ones who can suffer from this emotional tidal wave in the bedroom, better known as post coital dysphoria, or PCD.
PCD occurs when a person has, for all intents and purposes, enjoyable consensual sex with a partner, but is met with “inexplicable feelings of tearfulness, sadness, or irritability” afterwards.
Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology say PCD had only previously been recognized in women, but after a survey of 1,208 men from numerous countries — including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Russia — it’s clear that the condition is more common among males than one might expect. In fact, four in 10 participants recalled suffering from PCD symptoms at some point in their lives.
“Forty-one percent of the participants reported experiencing PCD in their lifetime with 20 percent reporting they had experienced it in the previous four weeks,” says co-author Joel Maczkowiack, a masters student at the university’s school of psychology, in a release.
As many as 4 percent of the individuals, who voluntarily participated in the online questionnaire via postings on social media and psychological research websites, said they battle PCD symptoms regularly. Men acknowledged that statements such as “I don’t want to be touched and want to be left alone,” or “I feel unsatisfied, annoyed and very fidgety. All I really want is to leave and distract myself from everything I participated in,” applied to them when thinking about times they’d made love. Others described feeling “emotionless and empty” even though the sex was otherwise satisfactory.
“It is commonly believed that males and females experience a range of positive emotions including contentment and relaxation immediately following consensual sexual activity,” says co-author Robert Schweitzer, a professor at the university.
Schweitzer says that research has shown that couples that continue engaging in acts of intimacy after sex, such as talking, kissing, or cuddling, feel more satisfied in their relationships and strengthen the bond they share. Conversely, the emotional rollercoaster that comes with PCD could magnify any conflict in a relationship and wind up causing a bond between two people to break even further.
“The first three phases of the human sexual response cycle – excitement, plateau, and orgasm – have been the focus of the majority of research to date,” Professor Schweitzer said. “Yet previous studies on the PCD experience of females showed that a similar proportion of females had experienced PCD on a regular basis. As with the men in this new study, it is not well understood. We would speculate that the reasons are multifactorial, including both biological and psychological factors.”
The authors say the findings show sexual experiences for men could be more diverse than believed, and are important for clinicians to consider when working with men who may experience such symptoms.
The full study was published July 24, 2018 in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy.
I have felt sad after sex, because the raging hormones influenced me to knock boots with some chicks that I shouldn’t have. In other words, the whiskey-goggles wore off!
But I didn’t stay sad for long!
You put the goggles back on?
Well, I hadn’t thought of that, but I’ll try it!
That’s because the beer goggles wore off…
I felt like that way always until I found my significant other. Men have a drive to have sex but they may not like the women they have sex with and afterwards regret being so close actually inside of a person to whom they do not have a strong emotional attachment.
The old fashioned way of first finding someone who you love and then having sex made a lot of sense.
The first time I had sex with my current partner which was more than 40 years ago and I just wanted to be next to her afterwards I knew she was right for me.
Men have feelings and sex is a spiritual act. It is not sports.
If it’s not a sport, then why is it on TV?
Uh, the View is on TV, Rachel Madcow is on TV, those aren’t sports.
Seriously, you are partly correct. But there are times in a man’s life when sport-f***ing chicks is what is needed.
I think you’re one of the fortunate few. I don’t know many people who would say they’re with the person they really wanted.
Most men feel very vulnerable after sex…largely because our society has taught them not to show their emotions.
You cannot truly be happy or satisfied from sex when you do it with intention to fill some void in you, cause guess what, that void don’t go no where when the sex is over. Gotta deal with your childhood pain/imprints instead of repeating the addictive coping mechanisms.
Inexplicable? The defense system that guards against the repressed emotional pain gets weakened after orgasm and hence, the deeper unresolved childhood feelings come up cause you’re vulnerable and no longer guarding against them.
Sounds like they aren’t making real men any longer…
Lies
This is after they realize they just bagged a liberal.
Sad because now she’s talking
HAHhahahah yeah, that’s why Bill Cosby prefered them unconscious.
Happens to me all the time. Sore hand.
How can you know if you’re sad when you’re asleep?
for me it all depends on how big of a hog she is. If a real hog I am very sad. Esp. if any of my friends saw me with her. If she is a media hog I usually feel fine.
I love stories like this. That is when the true chauvinists come out.
If you build it, they will come (sic).
Well, that explains Liberal men.
These men should try too ugly and undesirable for anyone to want to have sex with just once. They’ll feel much better about themselves then.
Note that the woman was faking?
And the remaining 6 in 10 start thinking about the next babe about 2 minutes before his explosive dribble.
Per the radio
10% can claim an Imaginary Lover.
10% say they like that tiny dancer in their hand.
10% cut the small talk and just beat it.
10% scream with a rebel yell, stroke me, stroke me.
Which points out the obvious…
40% Can’t always get what they want, Can’t get no satisfaction, or are obsessed with Don’t let me down!
40% of easy women are coyote ugly.