Do SSRI sexual side effects ever go away?

Stopped your SSRI, but sex still feels different? For many people, SSRI sexual side effects ease once the tablets stop. For some they can last after stopping, sometimes for years, and this is called post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD).

Nobody can tell you in advance which group you’ll be in, because nobody has counted. That it happens isn’t in doubt: in 2019 the EU medicines regulator asked for a warning on every SSRI and SNRI.

The UK leaflet for Cipralex (escitalopram) puts it plainly. Sexual problems have, in some cases, “continued after stopping treatment”.

Benjamin, in the film at the top of this page, has lived with it for fourteen years. Watch it to hear, in his own words, what being told “it will settle” felt like when it didn’t. His story isn’t a forecast for you.

So what does PSSD involve, how often does it last, and will yours ease?

Is PSSD only about sex?

No. The name says sexual, but the condition is wider. The diagnostic criteria proposed by an international panel in 2022 put a lasting change in genital sensation at the core, often numbness.

They also list symptoms beyond sex:

• Feelings: “emotional numbing” and “depersonalization”, feeling cut off from yourself.
• Senses: “other sensory problems involving skin, smell, taste or vision”.
• Cognition: “cognitive impairment”, the brain fog people describe.

The sexual side can include genital numbness, lost desire, erection problems and orgasm with little or no pleasure. People are often told the emotional and cognitive changes are anxiety or unrelated. They’re in the criteria. How it looks in women is set out in PSSD in women.

PSSD can follow SSRIs such as sertraline, fluoxetine, paroxetine and citalopram, and SNRIs such as venlafaxine and duloxetine.

Is it officially recognised?

Yes. In 2019 the EU medicines regulator asked manufacturers to warn that sexual problems can continue after an SSRI or SNRI is stopped. Health Canada followed in 2021. Both changes are described in a 2024 review by David Healy and Dee Mangin.

That warning is the leaflet in your box. If you were told these effects always settle within weeks, that’s not what the regulators concluded.

In this short video, Professor Joanna Moncrieff, a psychiatrist at UCL, talks about PSSD and how aware doctors are of it. It’s background, useful before you see your GP, and not evidence about how often it lasts.

Play video: Professor Joanna Moncrieff discusses Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD)

BBC Panorama covered it in The Antidepressant Story on 19 June 2023, with patients describing it. The episode is on BBC iPlayer in the UK only.

How often do the side effects last?

Nobody knows. The two estimates in the Healy and Mangin review are far apart:

• A small Dutch survey found about half of former antidepressant users still had sexual problems. It asked only 76 people, so it can’t stand for everyone.
• A large Israeli prescription study suggested about 1 in 200. Its authors say this probably undercounts, partly because it left out women.

The review gives reasons for the gap. A trial that set out to cause PSSD would be unethical. Standard questionnaires may miss changes like genital numbness. Drug studies rarely follow people up for long. And many patients never say, through embarrassment or because they were dismissed once.

If someone quotes you the odds, ask what the figure is based on.

One question has a clearer answer. A 2024 survey led by Pirani asked young people about lasting genital numbness after treatment. About 13 in 100 who had taken antidepressants reported it, against about 1 in 100 who had taken other psychiatric medicines.

One limit matters. Everyone surveyed was a sexual or gender minority young person, aged 15 to 29, in the US or Canada. It isn’t a rate for the whole population. It does show a clear gap between two groups answering the same question.

Will mine go away?

Nobody can promise you recovery, and nobody can tell you it’s permanent. For some people it has lasted years after stopping. Nobody knows yet who will be affected, or whether it will ease. Our article on whether full recovery is possible looks at what people report.

These medicines help many people. If you have side effects, that’s a decision for you and your prescriber. Don’t stop suddenly.

Report it: it helps everyone

A doctor’s note helps you. A report to the medicines regulator helps everyone else: it is how patterns get noticed.

• No proof needed. A suspicion is enough, even years after stopping. No doctor needs to agree.
• Where: the Yellow Card scheme in the UK, MedWatch in the US.
• Use the right words. If symptoms continued after stopping, write Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (MedDRA 10086208). “PSSD” on its own isn’t in the dictionary, so a report can be filed under something vague. Healy and Mangin note the term “does not appear to have been adopted by regulators”.

Our reporting guide walks you through it

Then join the registry. A report records one reaction once. The registry follows a person over time, which is what research needs.

What else do people ask?

Can it start after I stop? Yes. The 2022 criteria include symptoms that begin on the tablets and stay, and those that appear only after stopping. Tell your GP when each symptom began, and whether you were still taking the medicine.

Does the brand matter? PSSD has been described after SSRIs and SNRIs as groups. Nobody has shown which brand carries more risk of lasting effects. We don’t rank medicines; that’s a conversation for you and your prescriber.

If you’re struggling with your mental health, the Samaritans are on 116 123, free, at any hour.

Benjamin is still waiting for an answer after fourteen years. You can hear more people describe it here, and read more on our PSSD page.

Sources

1. Healy D, Mangin D. Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction: barriers to quantifying incidence and prevalence. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 2024;33:e40. Describes the EMA (2019) and Health Canada (2021) label recommendations; Lüning 2019 (52.6%, n = 40 of 76); Ben-Sheetrit 2023 (0.46%, a likely underestimate); reasons prevalence is unknown; the MedDRA term “does not appear to have been adopted by regulators”.
2. Healy D, Bahrick A, Bak M and colleagues. Diagnostic criteria for enduring sexual dysfunction after treatment with antidepressants, finasteride and isotretinoin. Int J Risk Saf Med 2022;33(1):65-76. Proposed criteria. Section 3: enduring change in genital sensation; ancillary symptoms include emotional numbing, depersonalization, other sensory problems and cognitive impairment.
3. Pirani and colleagues. Persistent genital hypoesthesia after antidepressant use. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, online 2024. UnACoRN subsample of 2,179 sexual and gender minority youth, US and Canada: 13.2% (93/707) after antidepressants against 0.9% (1/102) after other medicines.
4. Lundbeck Limited. Cipralex (escitalopram) patient information leaflet, electronic Medicines Compendium, UK. Section 2: sexual problems “have continued after stopping treatment” in some cases.
5. GOV.UK. Report a problem with a medicine or medical device.
6. Moral Medicine, Benjamin’s 14-Year Battle with PSSD (video at the top of this page).
7. PSSD Network, Professor Joanna Moncrieff discusses Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction, June 2026. General context.

Sources checked on 22 October 2026. AI-assisted writing and review, not clinical review.