Tuning Into Desire

If low desire people can become easily aroused when viewing sexual images, why don't they feel more desire? The answer lies in the response to arousal. A person can be quick to get aroused but equally quick to stifle that response at the slightest distraction. They may also have a very active sexual inhibitor that squelches any feeling of desire.

According to an article in the New York Times, the best approach for treating those who suffer from low sex drive may be to focus on enhancing arousability rather than desire - to forget about sexy thoughts and to emphasize sexy feelings, the physical cues or activities that arouse one’s sexual circuitry. The rest will unwind from there.

Researchers have also gathered considerable evidence that the sensations of sexual arousal, desire and excitement are governed by two basic and distinctively operating pathways in the brain — one that promotes sexual enthusiasm, another that inhibits it. The trick is to tune into the part of the brain that capitalizes on the often subtle arousal signals.