This video clip discusses the somewhat “accidental” discovery of Viagra™ (sildenafil) as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. It was originally being tested as a drug for heart disease. Since that discovery, more medications have been developed that can enhance erection. Viagra™ has been tried with women as well but has not been as effective. This may be because men associate sexual desire more directly with erection of the penis. While Viagra™ does increase circulation of blood to the penis, therefore assisting with the quality of erection, it does not increase sexual desire per se. Obviously, if a man has been worried about getting erections and this anxiety has interfered with the mechanisms of erection, the confidence that Viagra™ may generate may also make him feel more relaxed and therefore allow him to feel more sexual desire.

The clip also mentions the administration of testosterone to women who have been experiencing problems with arousal, although this hormone may well have a more direct effect on sexual desire itself, as well as increasing blood flow to the vaginal area.

Clearly, it would be very convenient to have a pill or injection that would take care of every sexual dysfunction, but to ignore the psychological aspects of a sexual dysfunction is often a mistake. The use of a wide range of pharmaceuticals in sex therapy will continue to increase. Eventually, better guidelines will emerge concerning the balancing of medical and psychotherapeutic treatments.

Please watch the following video clip and answer the corresponding follow-up questions.

Viagra and Sexual Pharmacology

1			Using what you know about Viagra™, testosterone, male erection, and female arousal, explain in more detail why circulation-enhancing drugs may work better in the treatment of erectile dysfunction and testosterone than in the treatment female arousal disorder.
2			In the video, a man states that Viagra™ has made him feel like a normal human being again, and a woman states that testosterone has made her feel like her old self again. What do such statements say about the role of sexual functioning in our culture?
3			What are some of the risks of using Viagra™ and similar drugs, or of using testosterone to enhance arousability?