Perceived Stress and Emotional Intelligence in Patients with Erectile Dysfunction: A Preliminary Study

Erectile Dysfunction is a challenging problem that negatively affects the quality of lives of those affected. Sufferers and their partners face a lot of difficulties in various areas of life including relationship problems. Emergence of ED may be attributed to either organic or psychogenic factors but irrespective of causal factors it often lead to emotional and adjustment problems. The present study was carried out to study perceived stress and emotional intelligence and their interaction in individuals diagnosed with Erectile Dysfunction and their healthy counterparts. This cross-sectional study examined 200 male out of which 100 individuals with erectile dysfunction and 100 healthy controls. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) were administered on study group; whereas, in addition to above mentioned scales General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was also administered on control group. The data obtained for the variables under study have been subjected to different statistical analysis. Significant difference was found in perceived stress and EI scores between study and control group. The findings also indicated significant negative correlation between perceived stress and EI. Overall findings suggest that individual with ED are significantly more stressed and having low emotional intelligence than their healthy counterparts. Thus present study highlights the facts that it is equally important to treat stress in order to achieve better treatment compliance and management. We advocated the need for holistic management including adequate mental health screening and interventions with the persons suffering from ED.