Anxiety and sexual arousal

Autonomic arousal (in the form of palpitations, flushing, sweating etc.) is a characteristic accompaniment of the sexual orgasm (Masters and Johnson 1966). Curiously enough, autonomic arousal has also been implicated as a cause of the sexual orgasm, and, more specifically, the ejaculatory component thereof (Redmond et al. 1983). Such autonomic arousal may result from opiate withdrawal (Blachly 1966), the administration of alpha-2 agonists such as yohimbine (Holmberg and Gershon 1961), and anxiety.