Mart, certainly mental anxiety can dampen arousal and disrupt orgasm. I'm talking about physical tension... the buildup of the charge as it were, and the leaping across the chasm (as with a capacitor) that is the orgasm. I find that while on lexapro, the stimulation is pleasant, but I can't get physically to that peak. It's like climbing and climbing a mountain but never getting to the top. I also don't have panic attacks while on lexapro. My panic attacks are PHYSICAL. I have a series of physical sensations that my mind interprets as danger and the mental anxiety follows. With lexapro, no physical anxiety, no mental anxiety, no panic... and no orgasm.
I think the experiment was about how people had to be in a safe situation with no mental/emotional anxiety in order to participate in the test.
My definition of living with a depressed person: It's like trying to play with a dead dog. No matter how many times you throw the ball, that dog just won't run.
