Study: Many women suffer from ‘post-sex’ blues

Almost half of the women population will experience symptoms of “post-sex blues” once in their lifetime, a new Australian research suggests. Otherwise known as postcoital dysphoria, or PCD, this condition is characterised by tearfulness, a sense of melancholy or depression, anxiety, agitation, or aggression following sexual intercourse.

In a study that appeared in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers found that 46 per cent of 230 female university students reported experiencing PCD symptoms at least once in their lifetime. In an online survey, the respondents also reported that 5.1 per cent of them experienced PCD symptoms a few times within the past four weeks.

“The findings build upon our previous research investigating the correlates of sexual functioning in women. The results of our original research in this area have now been confirmed in an international multinational study on negative postcoital emotions, which appear to have evolutionary functions,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Robert Schweitzer of the Queensland Institute of Technology.

In 2011, Schweitzer and his colleagues conducted a small study that explored postcoital blues involving 200 young Australian women. They found that one out of three young women experienced the condition at some point in their lives. Ten per cent of the participants also said they frequently or almost always felt sad after sex.

Under normal circumstances, the period just after sex elicits sensations of well-being, along with psychological and physical relaxation, according to Schweitzer. However, he said individuals who experience postcoital dysphoria may express their immediate feelings after sexual intercourse in terms of melancholy, tearfulness, anxiety, irritability or feeling of restlessness.

In the new study, the researchers claimed that they did not find an association between PCD and intimacy in close relationships. Their 2011 study, published in the quarterly International Journal of Sexual Health, was also not able to pinpoint the cause of this feeling among women. While Schweitzer cited that prior sexual abuse can cause feelings of shame, guilt and loss in later sexual encounters, their older study found only a moderate correlation between prior sexual abuse and later post-sex letdown.

Schweitzer said that other factors, such as biological predisposition, may be more important to PCD. The next step, he said, is to look at women’s emotional characteristics and how they view themselves to see if personality contributes to bedroom blues.

While both studies analysed PCD incidence in women, the condition is considered more common in men than in women. Causes of this disorder remain unknown and its treatment requires insight-orientated psychotherapy to help clients understand their unconscious behavior and attitude towards sex.

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