Below is a list of media articles which either feature or mention enduring sexual dysfunction after stopping antidepressants, finasteride (Propecia) or isotretinoin (Accutane).
If you can find others, please let us know.
Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD)
Despite numerous conversations with journalists, and ongoing efforts to raise awareness, there appears to be significant reluctance in the media to write about PSSD. Some of the articles below make only passing reference to it.
We are certainly aware of cases in the past where mention of PSSD has been reduced or removed from articles before publishing, or where a commissioned article has been dropped.
In comparison to the few articles about PSSD, there have been over 180 on Post-Finasteride Syndrome (PFS), even though PSSD appeared in the medical literature five years prior to PFS, and antidepressants are used by significantly more people.
| Date | Publisher | Details |
| 25 Mar 2006 | The New York Times | Expecting Too Much From a Mind Drug
Dr Bahrick's letter originally included reference to PSSD, but this was edited out of the published version. |
| 15 Dec 2008 | The Boston Globe | Antidepressants may damage more sex lives |
| 16 Feb 2010 | Gesundheitstipp | Erst Depression, dann tote Hose |
| 15 Nov 2010 | Streetvibes | Despair Takes a Young Man’s Life |
| 9 Feb 2012 | The McGill Daily | Killing your sex life? |
| 19 Feb 2013 | xoJane | I Went off Antidepressants, But My Sex Drive Never Came Back |
| 11 Mar 2014 | Volkskrant | Blijvende seksuele stoornis door antidepressivum
The Dutch newspaper featured this article on its front page following concerns raised by Lareb, the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre. |
| 25 Apr 2014 | Men’s Health | The Pill That Kills Your Sex Drive |
| 3 Jul 2014 | La Stampa | Gli antidepressivi possono causare disfunzioni sessuali in donne e uomini. Il parere del sessuologo |
| 3 Dec 2014 | SexSmartFilms | Libido Lost |
| 31 Mar 2015 | Progress in Mind | Some drugs, not much rock and roll |
| 23 Aug 2015 | Broadly | The Post-SSRI Orgasmic High |
| 6 Sep 2016 | Narratively | I Started Taking Zoloft Five Years Ago. I Haven’t Felt Sexual Sensation Since |
| 24 Oct 2016 | insalutenews | Antidepressivi ed effetti collaterali. La testimonianza di Leonardo |
| 20 Mar 2017 | The Daily Mail | Depression pills sabotaged my love life
The published article was heavily edited from the original version which can be found here:The Pills That Steal Sex |
| 6 May 2017 | The Guardian | ‘I don’t know who I am without it’: the truth about long-term antidepressant use |
| 28 Aug 2017 | International Society for Sexual Medicine | Review Discusses Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunctions |
| 2 Oct 2017 | International Society for Sexual Medicine | Patients Should Be Aware of Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction, Reviewers Say |
| 8 Jun 2018 | The Guardian | My life in sex: ‘After taking antidepressants, my genitals felt numb’ |
| 28 Jun 2018 | U.S. News | Do You Have Sexual Side Effects From Antidepressants You Stopped Taking? |
| 28 Jun 2018 | Lyon Capitale | Un antidépresseur peut-il détruire votre vie sexuelle? |
| 12 Aug 2018 | Fundació Institut Català de Farmacologia | Catalan version: Disfunció sexual persistent: antidepressius, finasterida i retinoides
Spanish version: Disfunción sexual persistente: antidepresivos, finasterida y retinoides |
| 3 Nov 2018 | Metro | Antidepressants were supposed to help me but they ended up making me impotent |
| 10 Jun 2019 | Daily Mail | How depression pills can wreck your sex life |
| 15 Jun 2019 | Il Salvagente | Antidepressivi sotto accusa: “Così ho perso il piacere della mia intimità” |
| 4 July 2019 | Le Lanceur | Prozac, Zoloft, Deroxat… Des troubles sexuels après l’arrêt du traitement |
| 26 Aug 2019 | Tages-Anzeiger | Zwanzigjährige sagen mir: Die Lust ist weg |
| 27 Aug 2019 | ZDF | Libidoverlust durch Antidepressiva?
Nebenwirkungen von Antidepressiva - Nie wieder Sex? |
| 16 Sep 2019 | Quotidiano Sanità | Disfunzione sessuale persistente dopo terapia anti-depressiva |
| 27 Sep 2020 | Corriere della Sera | È vero che molti antidepressivi hanno effetti negativi sulla vita sessuale? |
| 1 Oct 2019 | Osservatorio Malattie Rare | Disfunzione sessuale post-SSRI: quando gli antidepressivi lasciano il segno |
| 29 Nov 2019 | Poradnikzdrowie.pl | Zespół dysfunkcji seksualnych po SSRI - przyczyny, objawy, leczenie |
| 10 Dec 2019 | Gli Stati Generali | Quando, con gli antidepressivi, sparisce la sessualità |
| 29 Jan 2020 | Notizie scientifiche.it | Disfunzione sessuale post terapia antidepressiva, scienziato chiede maggiore riconoscimento della condizione |
| 24 Sep 2020 | Psiconline | Disfunzioni sessuali dopo la sospensione di antidepressivi SSRI |
| 30 Sep 2020 | Libero | Così gli antidepressivi rendono impotenti |
| 5 Nov 2020 | Zougla.gr | Αντικαταθλιπτικά και σεξουαλική δυσλειτουργία |
Post-Finasteride Syndrome (PFS)
We hope to include some articles about PFS in due course.
Post-Retinoid Sexual Dysfunction (PRSD)
Isotretinoin is a retinoid used in the treatment of acne. For some reason, media articles about sexual dysfunction linked to isotretinoin are even rarer than those for PSSD, despite long standing reports of the problem.
Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD)
The following articles don’t focus specifically on antidepressant-induced PGAD. However, they provide a useful insight into the condition and its consequences.
See PSSD guideVisit our campaign page
