If low sex drive is a symptom of depression, why do SSRIs cause low sex drive?
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Your question is apt–it took a while after their release for the sexual side effects of SSRIs to be fully appreciated, because there’s such a high baseline rate of low sex drive in major depression. In the studies, the group that took SSRIs started and ended with a similar percentage of sexual dysfunction, with the improvement in sex drive with improved depression roughly balanced by new sexual side effects. In many patients, the effect is delayed orgasm rather than low drive.
The mechanism isn’t perfectly understood but it probably involves a direct effect of serotonin on certain receptors that regulate sex response.
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