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Another useful model of sexual response to understand is the Dual Control Model of Sexual Response. This model was developed in the 1990s by Dr. John Bancroft and Dr. Erick Janssen 🔗 Bancroft and Janssen, 2006.
This model is based on the idea that sexual response is the product of a balance between excitatory and inhibitory processes.
These excitatory and inhibitory processes are thought to work somewhat independently of one another, much like a brake pedal and a gas pedal. People have high levels of sexual inhibition and low levels of sexual excitation, or vice versa, or another combination.
Everyone’s accelerator is uniquely sensitive. Some common factors that can increase excitation include:
- Love/bonding
- Erotic cues
- Visual sexual cues
- Romantic behaviours
Sexual inhibition can play an important protective role in reducing sexual response incases of danger or potential danger. Some common factors that increase inhibition are:
- Body image concerns
- Unwanted pregnancy
- Inappropriate timing of a sexual encounter
- Past negative sexual encounters
- Feeling tired or stressed
- Having low mood, or experiencing anxiety
Pain is another factor that can have a powerful inhibitory effect on sexual response.
Helping patients to understand their own “accelerator” and “brakes” can be helpful for helping them to understand their own sexual response as well as the role of pain in their sexual life.
