What Is Vaginismus? What Are The Psychological Effects?
The problem of intercourse, which causes women’s vaginal muscles to contract and cause them to be unable to have sexual intercourse or to make sexual intercourse very painful, is called ” vaginismus “.
Especially in our country, incorrect sexual information and subconscious concerns cause involuntary contractions and sexual intercourse cannot occur. Because the body is trying to protect itself, sexual intercourse, that is, ” penetration “, cannot occur.
The most well-known of the pelvic muscles is the “Pubococcygeus” muscle. Women experiencing vaginismus, especially their pubococcygeus muscle and pelvic muscles, contract excessively and uncontrollably during sexual intercourse. This makes not only the penetration of the penis impossible, but also medical examination, use of tampons, and even approaching with fingers. Vaginismus does not prevent sexual arousal, but it may prevent sexual intercourse. This may reduce your sexual life quality.
Even in extremely happy couples, while everything is going well and they are having extremely beautiful and enjoyable foreplay, in the intercourse dimension of the relationship, the woman suddenly stiffens herself, closes her legs, pushes her partner and pulls herself back. The wetness in the vagina also decreases and turns into dryness. While the woman is experiencing these, she begins to breathe rapidly, her heartbeat accelerates, and she locks herself against her husband in fear. In this way, he ends the relationship. In fact, these initiatives further increase and feed women’s already existing concerns.
Unfortunately, after a while, this sexual problem may turn into a family problem in marriage and may grow even further, triggering other unavoidable problems. Women in Turkey experience vaginismus; It shows that it is due to the imposition of society and culture rather than reasons such as education, age, socio-economic, socio-cultural status. For this reason, 10 out of 100 women in Turkey encounter this problem.
Erdem Psychiatry Clinic is always ready to help you with its Sexual Therapy service.
There are two types of vaginismus:
- Primary Vaginismus: It is the situation where sexual intercourse does not occur at all. Among women with Primary Vaginismus, there are those who are virgins even though they have been married for years.
2. Secondary Vaginismus: It is vaginismus that occurs as a result of a trauma (harassment, rape, difficult birth, continuous miscarriage, abortion, etc.). Bad events caused sexual closure and led to the inability to have sexual intercourse.
What are the Psychological Effects of Vaginismus?
Depression: Depression, which is seen in many vaginismus patients, can appear in mild and sometimes severe forms. Some people have hidden depression that they are not even aware of.
Social Phobia : It may have effects such as staying away from socializing, being afraid and shy of being in society, and withdrawing into one’s own shell. Sometimes they may focus on the issues they are interested in and choose the escape route.
Phobia: Many vaginismus patients may have phobias such as needles, bloodletting, and examination. Extreme sensitivity occurs especially to anything that touches the body and causes pain or requires touching even if it does not cause pain.
Panic Attack : Psychological effects such as chest pain, dizziness, palpitations, shaking, sweating, hot flushes, nausea may occur suddenly and without any problem.
Obsessive Compulsive Disease (OCD, Obsessive Obsession Disease): Situations such as excessive meticulousness, constant cleaning, frequent hand washing, and being obsessive may occur.
General Anxiety Disorder : General anxiety disorder, also known as anxiety disorder, can often be seen in people with vaginismus problems.
Substance Abuse: Smoking and alcohol use may increase or such habits may be started. Many patients think that when they drink alcohol, they can relax and have sex with their spouses, but after uncontrolled alcohol consumption, their relationships with their spouses do not improve, and this can lead to addiction.
Various treatment methods are used in the treatment of vaginismus to help the muscles work again by taking them under control and to eliminate involuntary contractions. However, if the issues that cause or trigger the problem are due to psychological reasons, such treatment methods may not provide permanent treatment. For this reason, it is necessary to get expert support to treat the psychological disorders that cause the problem.
