Regular or periodic occurrence of ejaculation with minimal sexual provocation, before, on or shortly after penetration and before you or your partner wishes for is known as Premature Ejaculation (PE). One of the least discussed sexual dysfunctions, PE is often confused with erectile dysfunction wherein you are unable to hold on to your erection long enough for satisfying intercourse.
PE is more often than not self-diagnosed. The main symptom of PE is your inability to hold on to the ejaculation for more than a minute after penetration during sex. Older men are more prone to PE and ED. In younger men, the reasons may be emotional or psychological in nature. Anxiety about pleasing your partner, relationship issues, stress, depression, low self-confidence, abnormal levels of certain hormones or history of sexual abuse might be some of the reasons for PE.
Traditionally the treatments for PE were limited to behavioural and psychological therapies. However, in recent times, pharmacotherapies are being prescribed as well. Nonetheless, most men prefer the behavioural and psychological treatments over medicines since not only is it free of side-effects; it also improves the partners' sexual communication.
Some of the behavioural and psychological methods include exercises for the pelvic floor muscles, masturbating before sexual intercourse to delay ejaculation, the start-stop method and the pause-squeeze method.
The pause-squeeze method also known as the squeeze method or stop-squeeze method was developed during the 1970s by American sex therapist couple William Masters and Virginia Johnson. The method was improvised from the stop-start method developed by James Semans in 1956. The pause-squeeze method is a two-step process. The first step involves learning how to squeeze, and the next step involves applying that knowledge to control ejaculation.
If you don’t have a partner to work with, you might have to learn the method yourself while masturbating. The method starts by stimulating the penis to the point where you are almost ready to ejaculate. Have your partner squeeze the frenulum by placing the index finger and middle finger on the top of the glans, with the thumb going on the underside of the glans. The squeeze should be firm but not painful. Hold it for 10-15 seconds.
After release, pause for around 30 seconds by which time the blood flow to your penis is considerably reduced. Resume foreplay until you feel the urge to ejaculate again. Repeat the squeeze and pause method. Try this method for a week. You should be able to postpone ejaculation with more practice.
The downside of this method is that repeated squeezing and pausing might be too much of a sexual dampener for your partner. Since arousal is a state of mind, it is advisable that you accompany this technique with some diversional tactics that are going to keep your thoughts of arousal at bay long enough to have mutually fulfilling sex.
