Sex talks with healthcare staff relevant among patients with anxiety

Several patients with anxiety deem it necessary to discuss sexual matters with healthcare staff in relation to their anxiety treatment, reports a study.

Therefore, healthcare providers must be also “educated and equipped to routinely address these matters while bearing in mind the most common patient barriers for conversations about sexuality,” the investigators said.

A survey was conducted from 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2019 in 272 patients with a primary diagnosis of panic disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder from 11 outpatient anxiety clinics in Denmark.

Survey questions involved sociodemographic characteristics, sexual activity and dysfunctions, pharmacological treatment adherence, anxiety and depression symptoms, and experience with and barriers to sexual communication. Clinicians at the clinic provided the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, diagnostic codes, medications, and dosage to each participant.

Of the patients, 61 percent considered it important to talk to healthcare staff about sexuality. However, only 28 percent had done so, of whom 83 percent found this discussion to be a positive experience.

The most common barriers to communication with healthcare professionals regarding sexual matters were as follows: a belief that if sexual matters were relevant, the healthcare staff would bring it up (94 percent), fear of transgressing their own boundaries (94 percent), embarrassment (92 percent), and lack of knowledge as to how to start a conversation about sex (91 percent).

“The study results indicated a need for healthcare staff to routinely map out and address sexual matters in their clinical work with anxiety patients while bearing in mind the common patient barriers for this topic,” the investigators said.