The problem of impotence is hard to determine especially if there are no physical or visible reasons that can be pinpointed as the cause. If erectile dysfunction is primarily brought about by psychological disturbances, it is difficult to delineate the possibility that it might just be a temporary occurrence or something as serious as an erection problem already. Difficulty in achieving an erection may be brought about by various factors and not just by erectile dysfunction. It can also be influenced by sex drives, emotional and psychological status, and health stability. It just so happens that these same factors are also the ones involved when considering erectile dysfunction. This similarity in factors involved also adds to the difficulty in delineating a temporary occurrence of erection problem to a more serious erectile dysfunction.

Sex drive is the more basic concern among people who engage in sexual intercourse, whether or not erectile dysfunction is part of their concern. Intimacy usually triggers a person's sex drive and contrary to what most people believe, even those who experience erectile dysfunction still have their sex drives active. This intense emotion, however, can be limited by factors such as stress or anxiety, health instability, lack of interest, and hormonal changes. Some medications for erectile dysfunction mainly need the activation or presence of sex drive for them to be effective. In short, sex drive is still a prerequisite of having an erection. This feeling usually triggers the changes that happens inside the body that eventually leads to an erection or it can be the other way around, that the changes happening within one's body defines a sex drive as a whole.

A person's emotional and psychological status can also highly influence the possibility of having an erection. Mainly, these factors also has something to do with the activation of one's sex drive. Emotion and psychological state are very abstract matters to discuss and their being abstract highly influences the randomness or variability of their effects. An example of this is the possible effect of sadness or depression to a person's sexual drive or interest in sexual intercourse. Some people will be hindered from having sex or simple achieving an erection if they feel sad or depressed. However, this is not true for all people or all instances. There are people that respond differently to sadness or depression in a way that this gives them more drive to have sex as a possible way of coping maybe. Sometimes, emotion and psychological state can cause a person to be compulsive in having sex while at other times, these same factors can cause phobias from having sex. Generally or majority, however, respond positively when feeling or experiencing positive dispositions such as happiness, satisfaction, or gratification. Thus, a higher rate of success in terms of having an erection is associated with positive emotions or situations.

Men who have health concerns such as diabetes, heart ailments, high blood pressure, kidney diseases, and liver problems are among the largest percentage of people who suffer having erectile dysfunction. This is because their health situation highly influences the anatomy and physiology of an erection. Basically, an erection is achieved when certain neural activities within the penis allow the flow of blood to reach that area and maintain that event resulting in a prolonged erection. However, diseases or health problems such as those mentioned earlier may either cause a damage in the neural connections that will prevent their activation or cause a problem in the flow of blood itself. Thus, no erection will occur, least of all be maintained.

The remedies for either a temporary inability to achieve erection or a more serious impotence problem are numerous and varied. The more medically-based are those medications that are prescribed by doctors such as sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil. Other medications that are considered more natural and are usually popularized by word of mouth are those herbal treatments usually made of ginseng and other plants or substances. However, remedies do not necessarily need to be medications or drug substances. Remedies can also come in ways such as exercise or gestures such as support and respect. Exercise is known to be very beneficial to one's health and body as a whole. Exercise can also improve the blood flow within one's body and revitalize the functioning of neural connections. On the other hand, showing support and respect to people who are troubled by impotence may help them feel better about themselves, thus, removing the possibility of psychological and emotional factors influencing their erectile dysfunction. When all these or majority of these are done, a person with erectile dysfunction has a greater chance of recovery and eventually achieve that much wanted erection.