Listen to today’s episode Beyond the Little Blue Pill: Welcome to the Erectile Dysfunction Radio Podcast through the podcast player above.
Erectile Dysfunction Radio Podcast
Today’s episode is about the role of your brain in the erection process. Erectile dysfunction is far more than just a medical condition, because erections involve not only your physical body, but your brain. Understanding what your brain does and how it impacts your erections can help you significantly improve your outcomes and make not only your erections better, but your overall sex life as well.
The Erectile Dysfunction Radio Podcast is dedicated to educating and empowering men to address erectile dysfunction, improve confidence, and enhance the satisfaction in their relationships. This podcast is hosted by certified sex therapist, Mark Goldberg, LCMFT, CST.
Transcript of Episode 1 – Beyond the Little Blue Pill: Welcome to the Podcast
Welcome to the “Erectile Dysfunction Radio” podcast. I am Mark Goldberg, certified sex therapist. I am deeply passionate about working with men like you to help resolve their ED. Today, we’re going to be talking about the role of your brain in your erection process. So, I know that a lot of men, when they first encounter erectile dysfunction, can find it extremely distressing. And it is.
When they visit their doctors, they may be prescribed a medication, which can be very helpful. But erectile dysfunction is far more than just a medical condition, because erections involve not only your physical body, but your brain. Understanding what your brain does and how it impacts your erections can help you significantly improve your outcomes and make not only your erections better, but your overall sex life as well.
Erections are not like other functions in your body. If you want to raise your hand, extend your leg, turn your neck from side to side, it’s very simple process. You think it, and you do it. Erections, however, don’t quite work in the same way. Erections require desire or stimulation, whether it’s physical or mental. And without that, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to actively will yourself an erection.
So you might be wondering why does all this really make a difference, especially if there is a pill that you can take and it can significantly improve your outcomes? And I think that’s a fair question to ask yourself. Why should I go through the trouble of having to really look, identify, and address either my thoughts, my feelings, problems in my relationship, if I can just take a pill and make this all better?
A way I like to think about this is if your car breaks down and you go to the mechanic, and the mechanic tells you that he could probably get the car running, and it’s not really going to address the whole problem, and it may not be where the problem even started from, and he’s not really sure how long the car will run for, but you’ll be in and out pretty quickly, right? It’s a pretty tempting solution to your immediate problem.
However, the problem at its root is not really being addressed, and it may only be a matter of time until your car’s broken down on the side of the road again. The alternative might be to take your car into the garage. You have to leave it there for a couple days. It’s going to cost you a whole lot more money upfront, but your car is going to be in a lot better running condition. And not only is the problem resolved, but the ride is a whole lot smoother.
When it comes to a car, there’s a choice that you have to make between the quick fix and a longer term solution that requires more investment of time and your resources. When it comes to erections, though, this doesn’t have to be a choice. You can really go ahead and address both of these components at once. Yes, a pill will be a quicker-acting solution for many men.
That doesn’t mean though that you’re successfully addressing all the components that not only facilitate that erection, not only make that erection happen, but make your sex life so much better. Now, there are some really good reasons why addressing the role of your brain, your thoughts, your feelings, your relationship, is not a standardized part of treatment for erectile dysfunction.
One of the reasons this is not part of standard treatment is that the process is just not as quick as taking a pill. And we live in a society where we want quick and easy results. Another reason is that it’s pretty confusing to identify and address what exactly is contributing to the psychological end of your erectile dysfunction.
Also, access to professionals who are trained to be able to help you address these components is pretty limited. And it can be really difficult to talk to somebody about these parts of your life. I get those challenges. They are real challenges, but skipping those steps might be robbing you and your partner of a fundamentally better sexual experience.
The answer to your erectile dysfunction may lie somewhere within you. And that is why I think it is so important that access to this information, access to these interventions is so key in addressing erectile dysfunction in a comprehensive manner.
Through this podcast, I’m committed to helping you find access to great information, help you to understand what might be contributing to your erectile dysfunction, and help you find better ways to approach it than just taking a pill. So let’s clear the air.
A lot of men are concerned that treatment of this nature will take forever, they’ll be lying down on a couch, talking about their entire life from early childhood, all the way up to them as an adult, with no aim and no direction, that they’re going to waste a tremendous amount of time and money.
I want to tell you that that is not true. This is a lot closer than you think. Treatment does not have to be forever, and maybe you don’t even need treatment at all. You can do some of this work on your own.
I also want you to know that this is not a binary process. This is not having to choose between medical and psychological treatments. Both of these can be done at the same time.
Even more than that, addressing one or two factors that are impacting your erection process, whether it’s addressing a component of your relationship, or feelings of depression, anxiety, even if that’s not everything will make a difference. It is worth spending some time to be able to do that.
I want to tell you about a man that I worked with a couple years ago, who I think highlights a lot of what we were talking about and a lot of what I see as being possible for many of you. He was 48 at the time he came to see me. He was married. He was taking one of the medications for erectile dysfunction. He had been taking it for a number of years successfully. And by the time he got to my office, the medication was no longer reliable.
It worked at times, but certainly not often enough. His wife was very displeased, very upset about this. And the client was very, very distressed. Within a short while of meeting, and I’m talking about maybe one or two meetings, it became clear that there were a number of issues that had emerged over the years between him and his wife that were not spoken about. There were some really hurt feelings that this man was experiencing.
And over a couple of sessions, he was really able to open up communication with his wife about some of the components that were negatively impacting his desire to engage, his desire to be with her. I tell you this story to emphasize what’s possible, something that I hope that each of you can have. When I concluded meeting with this patient, he said to me, “It’s not perfect. It doesn’t always work, but it’s a world of a difference for me. My sex life has never been this good.”
That is something that I hope that each one of you can work towards, with the help of these podcasts and your own explorations. This podcast will show you how much could possibly be contributing to your erection or your erectile dysfunction, and hopefully get you jump-started on your way to thinking about and addressing your erections in a whole new way.
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Ready to talk to an ED expert? Erection IQ founder Mark Goldberg helps men resolve erectile dysfunction. He offers individual, one-on-one services to men throughout the world through a secure, telehealth platform. It’s 100% confidential. You can visit the Center for Intimacy, Connection and Change website to
Schedule A Consultationwith Mark.