Objective To analyze the causes of frustration in patients with erectile dysfunction, and to provide a reference for developing personalized psychological intervention programs. Methods Guided by the Theory of Ego Depletion, an interview outline was developed. A descriptive qualitative research method was used to conduct semi-structured in-depth interviews among 20 patients with significant frustration due to erectile dysfunction, then the interview data were refined and analyzed using content analysis. Results A total of three themes and eleven sub-themes were identified: excessive depletion of psychological resources (distress from disease symptoms, negative life events, weak sense of benefit from disease treatment, lack of reproductive health knowledge), insufficient compensation of psychological resources (lack of emotional support, irregular sexual life, interference from incorrect external information, economic pressure), and weakened regulation of psychological resources (self-cognitive bias, thought suppression, lack of security). Conclusion Multiple factors lead to the depletion of psychological resources in patients with erectile dysfunction. When psychological resource depletion is excessive or regulation and compensation are insufficient, the patients may appear negative thinking. It is necessary to take targeted intervention according to patients′ psychological resources depletion, so as to reduce frustration in patients with erectile dysfunction.