Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction

So they don't even necessarily have sexual problems on meds.

When they stop, it g- goes away, and it's called PSSD, post SSRI sexual dysfunction, and it's devastating, and there are a lot of...

Like, actually, can I, can I call out a clip to look up?

For sure.

Google PSSD Lauren Freedman.

Uh, PSSD is a condition where sexual side effects such as genital numbness, low sex drive, and weak orgasms persist for months, years, or even decades after completely stopping selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or related antidepressant medications.

I will say this, I did notice that, um, my orgasms was different.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, we have to answer questions that people have Right? So, uh, over-prescribing of, of, of antidepressant medication, um, uh, de-prescribing, those are really important questions, and the evidence base is, I think, only just starting to develop, and this is something I'm really, really interested in investing in as director of the NIH.

Well, I wanna push you really hard on this because I've done a lot of work around PSSD, post SSRI sexual dysfunction, and I've investigated antidepressants, the way that they're described to work versus how they actually work, which no one really knows about, and whether they do work at all.

I mean, uh, I don't know if you were at this.

I was at the executive order with President Trump signing on Ibogaine for treatment-

Yeah, it was twenty and, and I, I think that gets mixed up a lot as well oftentimes.

Yeah.

But people who have actually been damaged by antidepressants that have something like PSSD, at the moment, there's no light at the end of the tunnel for them.

There's not really any funding going on into testing.

You've heard of PTSD, right? Yes.

Okay, now there's PSSD.

PSSD.

It's, I guess, affecting millennials and Gen Zers more because they're over-medicated.

Yes, I think we've heard about this.

My name's Lauren Friedman.

I've become an unintentional advocate for psychiatric medication harm.

I have a condition called PSSD, which stands for post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, which I'm sure anyone who's familiar with SSRIs knows that they cause sexual dysfunction and it's It's honestly more likely that you'll get sexual dysfunction than actually feel your anxiety or depression lessen.

I've become an unintentional advocate for psychiatric medication harm.

I have a condition called PSSD, which stands for post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, which I'm sure anyone who's familiar with SSRIs knows that they cause sexual dysfunction, and it's pretty common.

It's honestly more likely that you'll get sexual dysfunction than actually feel your anxiety or depression lessen.

But what patients are not told is that for some people, these side effects aren't side effects, but they're just permanent damage.

So upon getting this condition, I got it at 21.

I'm 23 now.

And I was just immediately very, very horrified that this was allowed to happen to me without my consent because PSSD is not even in the drug labels.

There's no...

There's an enormous amount of overlap with those people and the people who experience the horrific sexual side effects.

side effects like PSSD, post-SSRI sexual dysfunction.

That is the numbness and inability to feel sex that some people can experience even after stopping these medications.

It doesn't come with just those physical numbing side effects.