How can negative emotions affect a couple's sex life?

It can be hard to go from hot under the collar to hot between the sheets, but when stress and conflict threaten your sex life, but you can get your mojo back, says sex therapist Sari Cooper, LCSW.

Transcript

00:00

It becomes a feedback loop. One snaps at one, the other one snaps back, and it becomes sort of a spiral down in the mood of the couple.

00:10

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17

What happens very frequently when the stressors of life really get the better of a couple

00:24

is that they start a cycle of negative emotions. And it becomes a feedback loop.

00:31

One snaps at one, the other one snaps back, and it becomes sort of a spiral down in the mood of the couple.

00:39

And this affects a sex life, because while some people can snap out of it and compartmentalize

00:47

their negative feelings, most people, and actually, many women, feel like they can't switch gears.

00:54

If they're upset and hurt and angry and frustrated, they can't switch gears and say, hey, let's have sex.

01:01

It just doesn't compute for them. And so what you really need, if it becomes a cycle, is get some help to start to really resolve those issues.

01:11

Because if they're on the table and they just get sort of reformulated and argued over again and again,

01:18

your sex life is going to wane. It just will. So it's important to get those conflicts resolved

01:26

so you can move on. [AUDIO LOGO]