The Negative Effects of Medications on Sexuality

Many medications can have adverse effects on sexual energy. Chief among these are any medications with psychoactive properties, and beta blockers.

Psychoactive Drugs

A psychoactive drug is any substance capable of modifying the function of the psyche. These drugs can be broadly classified into three groups: psycholeptic, psychoanaleptic, and psychodysleptic.

Psycholeptics

The psycholeptic family includes calming and hypnotic drugs. These include sleeping pills and neuroleptics—more commonly known as “tranquilizers”—which alleviate agitation and neuromuscular hyperactivity. Psycholeptics are used to reduce anxiety. They numb awareness and deaden mental and intellectual activity, while also calming emotional tension.

Psychoanaleptics

Psychoanaleptics encourage mental and emotional activity. They include antidepressants, with which many readers will be familiar, as well as psychotonics, which stimulate mental activity and often bring on a state of euphoria. Amphetamines are a well-known example of a psychotonic drug.

Psychodysleptics

Psychodysleptics are also known as hallucinogens (for example, LSD or mescaline). They act upon the state of consciousness, producing altered perceptions of reality, including visual, auditory, and sensory hallucinations. These substances are increasingly being investigated as potential treatments for some forms of mental illness.

Beta Blockers

Beta blockers are used to treat chronic coronary heart disease and arterial hypertension. While these substances suppress and control the heart’s rhythms, they also have a highly pronounced effect upon sexual function, causing some men to have occasional difficulties attaining erection, or even total impotence. The exercises in this book will be of little help to men in this situation; they should consult their cardiologist for information regarding their sexual function.