But is it all in the mind? Is it not just a scare tactic guaranteed to play to our basest most deep rooted psychological instincts? That of the desire to be able to procreate and reproduce successfully.

In about 10-20% of the cases of Erectile Dysfunction reported to most doctors, it would appear that Psychological factors are the root cause. This has led to a condition that most medical practitioners now refer to as ?Psychological Erectile Dysfunction?. There are a whole number of potential causes that can prevent the triggering of the normal mental procedures required for the average man to be able to achieve an erection. These can include Stress, Relationship Problems or other forms of Psychological illnesses that can prevent the Brain from imitating the signals required for an erection.

Often it can be quite simply down to depression or anxiety. A recent medical / psychological survey reported that almost twice as many men who were suffering from depression and had associated anxiety issues exhibited signs of erectile dysfunction than men who weren't depressed.

Additional causes of this condition can include Stress (mentioned before), guilt, a lack of self esteem and the recurring fear of sexual failure. This latter one being the cause of many a self fulfilling sexual prophecy!

It is not too hard to appreciate that in most cases psychological factors and fears can end up playing a major contributory role in cases of erectile dysfunction, even if at the end of the day the root cause can be traced elsewhere.

It doesn't matter if at the end of the day, the cause of an incidence of Erectile Dysfunction can be traced to something non psychological, the emotional turmoil that this causes is quite extensive. This in itself can lead to many potential knock on effects.

For instance, a man can start by avoiding his partner or dream up quite exotic reasons for not having sex more often. The down side of this is that it can quite dangerously lead to reality resembling your worst fears and the difference between proposed reality and actuality can lost.

By this I mean that the very thing that you hoped to avoid can now lead to be the very thing that you actually by default end up suffering from.

Perversely at this juncture, the treatment for the Psychological scarring might need to be treated successfully before a successful course of treatment for the physical problem.

So am I saying that the majority of Erectile Dysfunction cases are brought about by the men themselves as being the root cause? No rather it is a more complex equation that requires careful analysis before judgements can be reached and a successful course of treatment embarked upon.

It is a complex issue of which there is no one course of treatment ?inscribed in tablets of stone?