The relationship between depression and erectile dysfunction
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Updated: Oct 10, 2026

Treatment Model for Young Patients with Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction and Resultant Infertility
Published on: May 30, 2025
1Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 98, New York, NY 10032, USA. sns5@columbia.edu
Abstract:
Normal sexual function is a biopsychosocial process; sexual dysfunction almost always has organic and psychologic components, and it requires multidisciplinary, goal-directed evaluation and treatment. Factors such as aging, declining testosterone levels, medical illness, certain medications, and comorbid depressive illness can contribute to sexual dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the most common male sexual dysfunction encountered in the clinical setting. Comorbidity between ED and depressive illness is high, but the causal relationship is unclear, and likely bidirectional. In this article, we review the existing literature on the relationship between depression and ED.
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