A recent study has said that achieving sexual satisfaction is more in the mind than in the body. Researchers from the University of Southern California and Yale University undertook a study and came to the conclusion that the brain, not the hormones were responsible for sexual pleasure.

Howard P. Greenwald of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Ruth McCorkle of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, conducted the study on 179 women between the ages of 29 to 69, who had survived cervical cancer and had both ovaries removed. According to a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Women's Health, this leads to a decrease in the testosterone level, the hormone that is an important factor in both male and female sexual behavior which basically means that they scientifically are unable to experience sexual pleasure or desire.

“Our findings, which demonstrate the existence of widespread interest and satisfaction with sex in the absence of a crucial hormone underscore the importance of non-hormonal components of sexual interest and satisfaction,” said lead author Howard Greenwald, a USC professor with the School of Policy, Planning, and Development. “That may mean the key to sexual satisfaction is less about biology and more about psychology.”

The researchers said more than 80 % of the survivors of cervical cancer reported being sexually active, with 81.4 % saying that desired sexual activity almost always, while 90.9%  said they enjoyed sexual activity some of the time.

Greenwald said for a long time after surgery women struggle to reconcile with the fact that their sexual organs are no longer there but after six years most off the women’s sexual desire and enjoyment rebounds.