Leaders | The wounds of silence

Sexual problems can wreck lives. Yet remedies are often simple

Doctors and schools should be franker about pleasure

A GENERATION AGO being depressed or anxious—let alone having serious mental-health problems—meant suffering mostly in silence. Stigma meant few people wanted to talk. Doctors turned a blind eye. Most saw mental illness as regrettable but not something that made much difference to a patient’s physical health. These days the stigma has faded, if not entirely disappeared. Early treatment often nips things in the bud.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “The wounds of silence”

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