Sexual disturbances associated with use of SSRI's and other antidepressants

Abstract

As a group of psychotropic medications - antidepressants are the most frequent cause of sexual disturbances. These side effects have been noted for the complete group of antidepressants but their frequency is not the same for different classes nor for different antidepressants of the same class.

The goals of this research were: 1) to establish possible differences between SSRI's and other antidepressants concerning sexual disturbances; 2) to establish if different sexual disturbances exist between males and females treated with various antidepressants.

100 patients treated for depression were divided into two groups, depending on the type of antidepressant used. They completed an ASEX questionnaire which was used to assess five aspects of sexual experience.

Statistically important differences were established among items used to assess sexual drive and excitement. Patients taking SSRI's rated their sexual drive (x = 4.22 ± SD = 1.12) as significantly stronger (p = 0.006) then patients taking other antidepressants (x = 4.85 ± SD = 0.96). Patients taking SSRI's rated that they achieve sexual excitement (x = 3.86 ± SD = 1.09) significantly easier (p = 0.032) then patients taking other antidepressants (x = 4.38 ± SD = 1.19). No significant differences have been noted concerning other aspects of sexual experience. Strength of male sexual drive significantly depended on the type of antidepressant used. Males taking SSRI's rated their sexual drive as significantly stronger than males taking other antidepressants (p = 0.022).

SSRI's cause the smallest amount of sexual disturbances in depressive patients, regardless of the gender.