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 cannot relate. At all.
The “inexplicable sadness” is that it is over with for a brief time.
Anybody done a “two bagger”?
A two-bagger is a chick so ugly you put a paper bag over her head so you don’t have to look at her. then you put a bag over your head in case her’s falls off!
Thinking of all those sperms who are going to just die.
What, are you Monty Python or something?
LOL
Yeah sure…. Maybe they are thinking about the 80 bucks they spent on dinner?
She wanted the Creme Brulee for dessert and now wants to know if her rear end looks big.
Its not sadness its worry about what their going to tell their wife.
I’m glad I’m old and ugly enough to not have to think about mating any more.
The only time I felt sad about sex is when I wasn’t getting any…
are ya stupid or something? Have fathers not bothered to talk with their sons? Of COURSE that feeling happens! It passes…very quick depending on age and attractiveness of…hopefully their WIFE! Wow. Stupid article.
Mostly we just think? Is this all their is to it?
Here is how to solve that problem: During high school the boys and girls are separated and each is taught about sexual health from a yogic perspective. When I was twenty I was given a book on yogic health for men. It taught me about how to channel my sexual energy into creative processes in stead of just ejaculating every time i felt horny. Being able to control ones sexual drive through a understanding of our bodies from the ancient perspective of yogic science can help people to not feel so empty after sex. And gives one an understanding about the creative force that we all have with in us. Yoga is not just about bending your body and being fit, it is a synergistic understanding of the physical and the subtle. In today’s fast paced material obsessed, sex focused world, giving the youth a sense of strength through the yogic sciences I think would stop this emptiness. Just a thought. A quick blurb on Kyria yoga from wikipedia: “The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One half-minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.”
it meant men had ‘Inexplicable Sadness’ after sex because they do not remember the last time they got lucky.
Gen. Jack D. Ripper had it figured out perfectly (see Dr. Strangelove, 1964). It ‘s the loss of essence that’s to blame. As Jack explained, ‘I don’t deny myself to women, Mandrake, but I will not let them have my essence’. Case closed.
sleep……….if you just lost your virginity as a man………..maybe a bit let down. Otherwise, get up go home and make sure to thank her………..adios
So 4/10 guys are gay I take it.
Thats the ones with ugly wives. Horny enough to bang but ugly enough to regret.
duh…… you KNOW the ‘effin you’re gettin isn’t worth the ‘effin you’re getting!!!
In other words, 4 in 10 men banged fat chicks.
The male orgasm is the male period. He empties out all the best in himself, and all his spirit. He is then empty and depressed. It takes him days to recover himself. This should be obvious as the sun. And if men men were more self-aware (or honest) the stated number would be way above “4 in 10.”
Oh please. You’ve been reading too may Cosmopolitans. Or drinking them.
OF course they do! Their feminized angry bitter Liberal girlfriends emasculate them. Their wives do even more damage. Women are out of control, poisoned, brainwashed, they are Waaaaaaay out there on a limb. What if Men just say NO to you skank bitter hags? Take off your puzzy hats and BE A REAL WOMAN!
^^^^Yep.