Throughout Hurricane Sandy, it was fascinating to watch social media activity and see how people were coping with disruption in their routines and their fears of the unknown. Facebook statuses were anything from “No electricity or water” and “A tree fell on our house!!” to “Anyone else annoyed about missing Monday night football??” and “Whew, thankfully our vacation house is intact”. These status updates were often well received, with ‘friends’ posting messages of empathy, commiseration, and appropriate emoticons.
Evidently, when people are feeling vulnerable they often yearn for two things; to be heard and to be validated by others.
But when a woman suffers from sexual dysfunction, her flood of tears finds little solace. Chances are, she’s not writing Facebook statuses that say “I’d rather scrub the toilet than have sex” or “Just had sex and it feels like my insides on fire”. And if she did, how many people would ‘like’ her status? Would her friends add comments sharing their own challenges in sexual functioning? Probably not.
The pain of suffering from sexual dysfunction often has no voice and finds little validation from others. Scouring the internet for information on sexual dysfunction may lead a woman to feel even more isolated or misunderstood, as much of the information in cyberspace addresses only male sexual dysfunction and may attribute female sexual dysfunction to purely psychological causes. For some women, months and years go by without getting the appropriate help they need and the silent suffering continues with no rescue in sight.
When women come to the Center, many find relief within minutes of walking into our office. At last, their pain can have a voice and they can learn that their sexual dysfunction is more normal than they realize. For some, just the process of speaking to a professional who understands what they are going through is enough to offer unprecedented hope that life will get better.
Sexual dysfunction is a difficult storm to weather, but with the right treatment the sun can come out…today.