Daniel Bergner, is a contributor for the New York Times Magazine and author of several books including, The Other Side of Desire, which I loved. He just wrote a new book which was released last week, What do Women Want? Adventures in the Science of Female Desire. An excerpt from the book just appeared in the New York Times Magazine and we have already gotten quite a few comments from our patients based on this article.
The article explains how there are several drugs in clinical trial aimed at increasing female sexual desire. The drugs mentioned are: Lybrido, Lybridos, Flibanserin and Libigel. These are all medications that I have read about and researched over the last few years. There is currently no pill available to treat low desire in women. I look forward to the day when a safe treatment to improve women’s desire is approved by the FDA. I love the idea that women’s sexual health is now becoming a priority. However, women (and men) are complex sexual beings and in order to address female sexual desire, I think all aspects of one’s life and body must be considered when trying to come up with a treatment that works.
Bergner explores the possible causes of low desire. He lists: menopause, anti-depressants and monogamy (due to boredom and increased comfort over time). What he does not particularly address is how quickly and easily couples can become disconnected and often this can make ones sex drive drop. When an individual becomes stressed, fatigued, or angry, testosterone drops. All these factors may contribute to low desire in women. The fact that Bergner has brought this topic in to the main stream is a great thing and I am hopeful that more can be done to help women have the sex lives they desire.
