Share this article

 Email

 Print

 

Republish this article

The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.

More
Health & Medicine

Quick therapy stomps on fear of spiders

For toddlers, flame retardant risks may vary by race

Got unwanted weight? Blame new neurons

Tiny chip could test for latent TB faster

Marathon death risk low, but double for men

Drug-vaccine combo better for breast cancer

Human study will test drug to prevent Alzheimer’s

Third offspring later, chemical effects linger

Size and stickiness predict stem cell future

The study shows that simply opening a new line of communication about sex can have a positive effect in many women with low libidos.

“The findings from our study show how a woman’s expectations to improve sexually can have a substantial positive effect on her sexual well-being without any actual drug treatment,” says Cindy Meston, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

“Expecting to get better and trying to find a solution to a sexual problem by participating in a study seems to make couples feel closer, communicate more, and even act differently towards each other during sexual encounters.”

The researchers examined data from a previous clinical trial that followed 200 women over a 12-week period. Fifty of those women, ages 35-55, were randomly chosen to receive a placebo instead of a drug treatment for low sexual arousal.

None of the participants knew which treatment they were given. To measure the effect of the treatment, women were asked to rate symptoms of sexual dysfunction such as low sexual desire, low sexual arousal, and problems with orgasm.

The findings, available online in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, show that on average, one in three of the women who took a placebo showed an overall improvement. Most of that improvement seemed to happen during the first four weeks.

Symptom changes were measured by the frequency of satisfying sexual encounters that the women reported during the treatment. Many women reported they received more stimulation during sexual activity while they participated in the trial, even though their partners were not given any special instructions.

All women taking the placebo talked to a health provider about their difficulties and monitored their sexual behaviors and feelings regularly.

Andrea Bradford a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine contributed to the study.

More news from University of Texas at Austin: www.utexas.edu/news/