A man who was prescribed antidepressants at the age of nine claims the medication has left him with permanent sexual dysfunction and emotional numbness, describing his condition as “hell on earth”. Simon Wright, now 34, was given citalopram for anxiety after finishing university, which he now attributes to nicotine withdrawal from quitting smoking. Over the next decade, he switched between different doses and types of the drug.
Mr Wright is among a growing number of people suffering from post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD), a condition that includes symptoms such as impotence, genital numbing, emotional blunting, chronic fatigue, insomnia, anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure) and dysphasia (impaired speech). Sufferers report these effects can persist for years or even decades after stopping the medication.
“It’s killed everything,” Mr Wright, from Nottingham, said. “All my sexual functions are obliterated. It’s completely numb. They might as well have chopped it off, it’s that bad. I’ve basically been lobotomised for the last 12 years.” He added that he no longer derives pleasure from music, food, relationships, travel or alcohol. “I don’t have a zest for life anymore because something’s happened in my brain where I just don’t get any joy.”
According to NHS figures, one in seven people in England take antidepressants, with prescriptions expected to rise by 5-10 per cent each year over the next decade. While the total number of PSSD sufferers is unknown, experts estimate it could be in the hundreds of thousands globally. Dr David Healy, a psychiatry professor at Bangor University, believes it could be in the millions. He noted that initial clinical trials for SSRIs reported sexual dysfunction in less than 5 per cent of patients, but unpublished phase 1 trials showed over 50 per cent of healthy volunteers experienced severe sexual dysfunction, sometimes lasting after treatment stopped.
Dr Healy recalled the first patient he saw 25 years ago, who complained of sexual problems three months after stopping an SSRI. He said he has since uncovered hundreds of cases of individuals still suffering years after discontinuing the medication, with some dating back to when Prozac first launched in 1988.
