Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction for 7 years. Struggling with physical and cognitive symptoms. Raising awareness and building community with other PSSD sufferers

Canada
Joined November 2023
After 6 years of debilitating Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), it is good to finally see detailed mainstream coverage. Thank you Daniel Bergner for your sensitive and well-researched piece. nytimes.com/2025/11/12/magaz…
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POV: you took medication that was supposed to help you, but now you can't feel your own body, your sexuality, or your emotions. months pass, and you're still begging your own nervous system to come back. this is PSSD. 💔 and there is no treatment
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The new MHRA safeguards for antidepressant prescription are a big step in the right direction. Glad to see them mention PSSD directly. Congratulations to UK PSSD advocates including @KatieRColl and ally @yassie_pirani for this victory.
The MHRA is introducing a series of new measures to strengthen how risks associated with antidepressant medicines are communicated to patients, carers and healthcare professionals. Read the full drug safety update here: brnw.ch/21x6qlr
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Also this is the first official place I've seen it mentioned that the adverse effects on sexual function can become worse after stopping the medication.
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The Daily Mail has covered my experience relating to #antidepressants in this article about #PSSD For more information see @PSSDNetwork dailymail.com/health/article…
Antidepressants ruined my sex life... and I'm still suffering the side effects nearly 15 years later. Now I realise I didn't need the pills to begin with. You must think before taking these drugs trib.al/Cy6zLRo
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Thank you @KatieRColl. Amazing PSSD representation!
Antidepressants ruined my sex life... and I'm still suffering the side effects nearly 15 years later. Now I realise I didn't need the pills to begin with. You must think before taking these drugs trib.al/Cy6zLRo
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Anyone who labels an iatrogenic harm testimonial as “fear mongering” is just a pure coward. Plain and simple.
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Emily Grey retweeted
Thanks to @NIHDirector_Jay for talking about PSSD. People are suffering from PSSD while desperately waiting for research and answers.
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This. This is why this injury has remained in the dark for decades. Because when we tell them- they just straight-up lie and refuse to record or report what we're telling them. Depression doesn't cause numb genitals. No one actually thinks that's a symptom of depression. #PSSD
I discussed my pssd symptoms with my psychiatrist and she said it is depression, I kept thinking it was depression but I have physical symptoms, my genitals are numb, im all dry.. and these symptoms are persistent and happened only after taking Zoloft.
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Emily Grey retweeted
When Lauren Friedman showed up at Amherst College, she was surprised to discover that almost every single girl in her dorm and on her athletic team was already taking SSRIs. Inside jokes about Zoloft & Lexapro were common on campus, and everyone seemed deeply grateful their persistent anxiety and depression from teenage years was magically disappearing from a pharmaceutical drug. Like her peers, @lololizzle had struggled earlier in life with both anxiety and depression -- so Zoloft seemed like a perfect solution. After all, all of her friends were taking it too, so how bad could it be? Little did she know, SSRIs are causing a silent epidemic among Gen Zers called Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction, or PSSD. Like untold tens of thousands of other people just like her, Lauren now has completely lost her libido, sensation in her genitals, and even a sense of emotional connection with the people around her... PERMANENTLY. She says she and others like her were NEVER given informed consent about the risk of developing PSSD, and American doctors will rarely even diagnose the condition at all. Whether it's birth control being thrown in the faces of teenage girls to magically "regulate your hormones" or Zoloft instantly prescribed to "make you happy," one thing is clear--the young women of Generation Z are being poisoned en masse without any understanding of what may happen to them down the line.
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Emily Grey retweeted
More and more people are speaking out. Please also speak out, reduce the stigma around it and tell your truth.
A reminder to the post-drug syndrome community: we need more of you to speak up. If you’re living with PFS, PSSD, Post-Accutane Syndrome, or another persistent post-drug condition, please consider recording a short testimonial for Moral Medicine. It does not need to be a full interview. It does not need to be polished. A simple 2–5 minute video on your phone is enough. Tell people what you took, what happened, what symptoms have persisted, and how this has changed your life. Awareness only grows when people are willing to speak. For years, patients have been dismissed, minimized, and told these conditions are rare, psychological, or unrelated to the drugs they took. The more real people who come forward, the harder that becomes to maintain. If you’ve been asking what you can do to help this movement, this is something you can do right now. Record your story and send it to [email protected]. You can also record it in your native language. English is not required. Please don’t wait for someone else to speak for you. If you’re able to tell your story, tell it. For more information about submitting a testimonial, please reach out to [email protected].
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Emily Grey retweeted
Sexuality is not just about sex. Sexuality is our gateway into pleasure and beauty and desire and romance and intimacy and vulnerability. When psychiatric drugs take that from you, they are robbing you of a core aspect of what it means to be human. I was put on psych drugs before I could even explore those fundamental facets of myself, and it wasn't until my late twenties, off the meds, that I discovered for the first time what they felt like.  I’d been told for years that my inability to feel desire or closeness was a “symptom” of my so-called “mental illness.”  I had no idea what I was missing. I was lucky, though. I was able to reclaim my capacity to feel pleasure after getting off psych meds. Many people I've heard from over the years have not yet been so lucky. @PSSDNetwork @PSSDInstitute
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SSRI antidepressants turned me asexual.
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“A certain percentage of people—and we need more research to better understand this—when they come off antidepressants, they lose sexual function.” @LauraDelano tells @TheoVon about PSSD. Theo then mentions @joerogan previously sent him a clip of PSSD sufferer Lauren Friedman.
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“I’ve been on SSRIs and PSSD has never happened to me” oh wow it’s almost as if people’s bodies react differently you fucking idiot.
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Thank you @DrJosefWD for sharing your views on PSSD - the worse adverse effect of SSRIs. I have spoken to well over 100 patients over the last 6 years, and hear the exact same about emotional anesthesia. “Dementors kiss” is the perfect descriptor.
There is a condition that almost never gets discussed in a doctor's office, even though the people living with it describe it as losing part of themselves. It is called PSSD, post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, and in this video I explain what it is, why patients are so rarely warned about it, and what has to change.
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Reminder that psychiatry is fully aware that the SSRIs they prescribe you could chemically annihilate your sexuality permanently, but they don't disclose this because they don't think it's important or that you have a right to know 🙃
'Being prescribed an SSRI helped me cope with the loss of my mother, but it put an unexpected strain on my marriage' 🔗 telegraph.co.uk/health-fitne…
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Thank you so much for covering my testimony, Dr. Josef—it is an honor. Those of us living with this inhumane condition and injury deserve not only recognition from the regulatory bodies that have failed us, but urgent research into what is driving PSSD and how it can be treated. It is egregiously unacceptable to leave human beings in this state. We deserve answers, we deserve treatment, and we deserve a way back to our lives. If anyone wants to learn more about PSSD or the ongoing research efforts, I encourage you to check out the PSSD Network's website and social media platforms, as we are working to raise awareness and support research into this devastating condition.
There is a condition that almost never gets discussed in a doctor's office, even though the people living with it describe it as losing part of themselves. It is called PSSD, post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, and in this video I explain what it is, why patients are so rarely warned about it, and what has to change.
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Emily Grey retweeted
More and more people speaking up about this extremely unethical situation
"It's much more like your genitals have been cut off than it is something that could be classified as sexual dysfunction." Stephen got severe PSSD from just six days on Lexapro. Interestingly, his sexual problems appeared suddenly a week and a half after taking his last pill.
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Today, @tiktok_us is making me go through misinformation training in response to a video I posted of a young woman detailing her experience with PSSD. The systemic suppression on these platforms is unbelievable, unethical and factually wrong.
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On July 29, @antideprisks will be hosting Stolen Lives Picnics around the world. In Vancouver, we'll be gathering at Second Beach, Stanley Park, from 5:30pm. Whether you're living with the effects of psychiatric medication, supporting someone who is, or want to learn more, you are welcome to join us. If you'd like to attend, please contact @yassie_pirani or me using the details below. #StolenLivesPicnic – at Vancouver, British Columbia
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