Postcoital dysphoria Why women sometimes cry depressive after sex

Constant anxiety and many tears: Especially young women suffer after the sexual act on a so-called "postcoital dysphoria". Scientists in Australia have studied the phenomenon more closely in a study to find out more about the background. Around 50 percent of the women surveyed have ever experienced post-partum blues after having sex.
Psychologists call the sadness of young women "postcoital blues or dysphoria" that occurs immediately after sexual intercourse. Scientists assume that this phenomenon of depressive moods occurs more often than previously thought. Men are mostly unsure and ask themselves, "Did I do something wrong?". But the reasons are elsewhere.

It sounds a bit strange at first, but it's true: some women have to cry after sexual intercourse - even though there seems to be no reason for it. Others feel stressed and extremely irritable without even knowing why. Psychologists from Switzerland and Australia have now been able to gain new insights into a phenomenon known as "postcoital dysphoric" in the jargon.

Release of happiness through dopamine
If a woman feels strong inner restlessness or even deep sadness after intercourse, that sounds a bit strange at first. Because the sex happens voluntarily and is fun, usually activate messengers such. Dopamine, the reward system in the brain - creating a rush-like state and happiness is poured out. However, emotional distress after sex is quite common and has long been described by scientists as "postcoital dysphoria".

Psychologists from Switzerland and Australia were able to gather new interesting insights into the phenomenon of postcoital dysphoria. Accordingly, the researchers had questioned a total of 231 students, with the data of those who had sexual contact only or even with women, not included in the evaluation. For the experiences that women would make in same-sex sex, according to the current state of research are quite different than with men, the reasoning.

Almost half of the women were already sad after the sex
Finally, the scientists surveyed the remaining 195 middle-aged students of 26 and came to an interesting conclusion. Almost half (46%) of the women said that in at least one case, they would have felt sadness or even cried after sexual intercourse for no apparent reason. In five per cent of cases, this had happened in the past four weeks, and two percent even stated that they felt such emotional distress every time after the act of love.

Those affected have experienced more sexual abuse in the past
In order to find out what makes the women so sad in this particular situation, the researchers made a further survey of the general state of mind of the test persons. It turned out that there were no other problems in the current sex life of those affected than in those of the unaffected women - in the past, however, there were more frequent forms of abuse.

According to the researchers, such experience is therefore the biggest risk factor, the paper said. They realized that this affects attachment behavior, which has left women with demarcation problems quicker with sadness and confusion after being co-opted. Because for women who tend to "blend in with others" in a psychological sense, "releasing" partners after sex may be a problem. The end of the act of love could in these cases "feel like a separation from the partner, overwhelming," the scientists continue.

Earlier study sees no connection with abuse experiences
Already in 2011, a study by the Queensland Technical University (QUT) with more than 200 young women came to the conclusion that a third (32.9 percent) was already sad after the sex. Here, however, scientists were unable to identify past abuse experiences as the cause of post-coital dysphoria. Instead, a kind of separation anxiety was suspected, although the biological predisposition could play a role. Because it is still unclear whether perhaps "fragile" women are more prone to a "blues" after sex than, for example, "strong" women, according to QUT researcher Professor Robert Schweitzer. (sb, no)