Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of autonomic nervous system activity, which reflects an individual's ability to adapt to physiological and environmental changes. Low resting HRV has been linked to several mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and alcohol dependence (Kemp et al. in Biological Psychiatry 67(11):1067-1074, 2010. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.12.012; Kemp...

INTRODUCTION Persistent sexual arousal is defined as an intrusive and unwanted genital arousal unrelated to sexual desire and typically unrelieved by one or more orgasms. AIM We report a patient presented with persistent sexual or genital arousal. METHODS A 62-year-old woman presented with a 5-month history of persistent genital arousal. The symptoms were unrelated to sexual stimuli but wer...

INTRODUCTION Women frequently report low sexual desire or interest. An associated lack of subjective arousal during sexual activity is clinically highly apparent but has not been the focus of traditional sexual inquiry, definitions of dysfunction, or management. The frequent poor correlation of women's subjective sexual arousal and observable increases in genital congestion in response to sexua...

Background The aim of this study was to compare sexual function between women of infertile couples and women who have undergone TL. MaterialsAndMethods In this case control study in Royan Institute and in a health center in Gilan province (Iran), between 2013 and 2014. There were 150 infertile women (cases) and 150 women undergoing TL (controls). A questionnaire was completed for each patient. ...

The results of a series of human and animal studies that were conducted in an effort to better understand autonomic nervous system influences on female sexual arousal are presented. The effects of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation on self-report and vaginal photoplethysmographic measures of sexual arousal were examined in 4 studies using intense acute exercise, and in 1 study using ep...

INTRODUCTION Persistent sexual arousal disorder (PSAS) is a poorly documented condition characterized by persistent genital arousal in the absence of conscious feelings of sexual desire. AIM To determine whether there are replicable features associated with PSAS, to describe salient characteristics of women reporting this condition, and to determine predictors of distress. METHODS A 46-item...

There is increasing evidence that women's physiological sexual arousal is facilitated by moderate sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation. Literature also suggests that the level of SNS activation may play a role in the degree to which SNS activity affects sexual arousal. We provide the first empirical examination of a possible curvilinear relationship between SNS activity and women's genit...

INTRODUCTION Melanocortins affect multiple physiological responses, including sexual behaviors. Bremelanotide is a synthetic peptide melanocortin analog of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone that is an agonist at melanocortin receptors MC3R and MC4R. AIM To evaluate a single intranasal dose of bremelanotide for potential effects on physiological and subjective measurements of sexual arousal...

Sexual arousal is thought to be the result of two levels of processing: conscious and unconscious. Whereas some research exists on the neural correlates related with conscious exposure to sexual stimuli, there are no parallel data regarding unconscious or subliminal exposure to such stimuli. In the present study, we therefore compared brain activation of 39 participants (20 women) as they were ...

The present study examined the effects of depressive mood symptoms and experimentally adopted sexual schemas on women's sexual arousal and affect. Women's vaginal response, subjective sexual arousal, and affect were measured in response to sexually explicit visual material in a laboratory setting. At baseline on a self-report measure, women with depressive mood symptoms (n = 28) reported signif...