When is ejaculation considered rapid? Every man and woman has experienced an act of love ending prematurely because ejaculation comes sooner than they would like. Of course, this is not considered a problem when it happens occasionally or under special conditions, e.g., at the beginning of a relationship or after the man has been sexually abstinent for a significant period of time.
But when the experience becomes permanent, it makes sense for it to bring tension, reflection, and perhaps eventually avoidance of sexual contact. But when is ejaculation defined as premature?
Diagnostic criteria for premature ejaculation include:
- Ejaculation occurs before or immediately after vaginal penetration. This criterion is subjective since each man or even expert is asked to estimate how long “immediately after” is.
- Ejaculation occurs before the man wants it. This criterion implies that ejaculation is not done according to the individual’s will. If, however, someone ejaculates e.g. at 7 minutes, but he mentions that he wants to increase his time because his partner takes 10-15 minutes to orgasm, would you say she has premature ejaculation?
- Ejaculation occurs so quickly that it causes obvious discomfort or interpersonal difficulties. This criterion emphasizes negative consequences. However, are interpersonal problems affecting intercourse?
Many studies have recorded the ejaculation time of men with or without a problem. Three of them were published in the “Journal of Sexual Medicine”: The first (2005) was done in 4 European countries and showed that the average time for men to ejaculate is 5.4 minutes.
The second was done in the USA (2006) and showed in a sample of 1,500 men that the average duration of men with premature ejaculation was 1.8 minutes and men without a problem 7.3 minutes. However, there were people who could last up to 25 minutes but claimed to have premature ejaculation!
In the third study (2007) that included only men with premature ejaculation, it was recorded that 90% ejaculated in less than 1 minute.
The International Society of Sexual Medicine recently proposed adopting an interval of less than one minute as a criterion for defining premature ejaculation. Although this criterion provides an objective assessment, it risks neglecting the importance of personal experience.
For example, a man who ejaculates in 2 minutes but experiences strong dissatisfaction or the interval is not sufficient for the partner, should we say that he should not be offered treatment? Also, should a man who ejaculates in less than 1 minute, but is happy because he spends a lot of time on foreplay, get treatment?
Despite individual differences, all scientists agree on the following principles:
- When duration to ejaculation is experienced as a problem, the couple should refer to a specialist.
- The sooner the couple turns to a specialist, the easier it is to deal with the problem.
- Psychological treatments (sex therapy) are today the most effective, while pharmaceutical help helps.
References:
Porst H, Kirana P (2013) Premature Ejaculation. In Kirana P, Tripodi F, Reisman Y, Porst H (Eds.), The EFS and ESSM Syllabus in Clinical Sexology. Medix.
