PSSD doctor: who to see in the UK

As of October 2026, we know of no NHS clinic set up for PSSD, a condition that can last after stopping an SSRI or SNRI antidepressant. Start with your GP or whoever prescribed it: bring your dates and the warning from your medicine’s leaflet, and ask about a referral to urology or a psychosexual service.

PSSD is more than sexual problems. Its core is a lasting change in genital sensation, often numbness, and the 2022 criteria also describe emotional numbing, problems with thinking and changes in other senses. Tell your doctor about all of it.

You’ll probably have to make the link yourself. Doctors don’t routinely ask whether sexual side effects went away after the last tablet, a 2024 paper notes, so it’s often left to the patient to raise it.

Katie, from the UK, was prescribed fluoxetine (Prozac) at 21. When her sexual problems carried on after stopping, she went back to her GP. Doctors put it down to low self-esteem, trauma and depression, she says. One health professional suggested she might be asexual.

Play video: I Lost My Sexual Identity After Prozac

“I have a sexual problem from fluoxetine,” Katie says. “It’s a medical problem.” Only last year did she link it to the pills and get a formal diagnosis.

Is there a PSSD specialist in the UK?

Not on the NHS, as far as we can find. We found no page on PSSD on the NHS website, and we know of no NHS clinic for it. You can pay to see a private sexual medicine or urology doctor, though we don’t recommend any by name. Ask them to write to your GP, so your NHS record stays complete.

What exists is a promise of help. The Royal College of Psychiatrists, which speaks for psychiatrists in the UK, published its page on antidepressants in March 2025. It mentions PSSD and says more research is needed. It adds: “It is important that people experiencing ongoing sexual side-effects receive appropriate and timely support.” It doesn’t say where.

Professor Joanna Moncrieff, a UK psychiatrist, is worth 90 seconds before your appointment. She says people should know about PSSD, and know that their own doctor may not.

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

Should I see my GP or the doctor who prescribed it?

Either can be your first stop. Your GP is the one who refers you on to a hospital. If a psychiatrist or a mental health team prescribed yours, tell them too.

Go in with the warning from your own leaflet. The UK sertraline leaflet, for example, says sexual problems may happen and adds: “In some cases, these symptoms have continued after stopping treatment.” The NHS page on antidepressant side effects says the same in plainer words.

Then write your history on one page:

• “Citalopram 20 mg from June 2021 to April 2023.”
• “Genitals numb since May 2023. Orgasm with almost no feeling.”
• “No problems like this before 2021.”

Say the numbness out loud, even if you’re only asked about sex drive. It’s the sign doctors look for when diagnosing PSSD. Our free letter for your doctor puts it on one page with the sources.

Which specialist can my GP refer me to?

It depends on the problem you bring. For erection problems that keep happening, the NHS says to see a GP or go to a sexual health clinic. Men may also be referred to urology; our PFS article explains what a urology visit involves.

Some NHS sexual health departments run a psychosexual therapy service for men and women. One such service’s leaflet lists medicines among the physical causes of the problems it sees. It asks for a GP referral, and says “you may have six sessions”.

It’s talking therapy, for you alone or with a partner, and the leaflet says there’s no physical examination. It isn’t a test for PSSD, and a therapist can’t change your prescription.

If you pay for a sex therapist, the NHS says they should be a member of COSRT, the professional body for sex and relationship therapists. On 22 May 2025 a therapist writing on COSRT’s website said it is “critical that, as therapists, we know about PSSD to be able to support those who describe the symptoms”.

What can I do?

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

Many people say it took time to be taken seriously. Bring the leaflet line. You can report it without a doctor agreeing. If you’re just starting to work out what’s happening, what to do if you think you have PSSD covers the first steps.

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.
• 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).

Our reporting guide walks you through it

What else do people ask?

What if my doctor says it’s depression? Many people hear this. Doctors may reason that “the medication is no longer in the body”, so the problem must be psychological, a 2024 paper notes. Depression can affect sex, and it’s worth ruling out. But the diagnostic criteria researchers agreed in 2022 say a mental health diagnosis doesn’t rule PSSD out, and normal blood tests don’t either.

I’m a woman. Who should I see? Start with your GP in the same way. Psychosexual services see women as well as men, and the same diagnostic criteria apply, with less vaginal lubrication as an extra sign. Our page on PSSD in women covers what women describe.

Do I need a diagnosis before I report it? No. Anyone can send a Yellow Card, a patient included, and a suspicion is enough. Our guide to reporting PSSD on a Yellow Card shows what to write.

The evidence on PSSD is still thin: the criteria are proposed, and nobody knows how common it is. That’s not a reason to be turned away.

It took Katie years to get a name for what happened to her: PSSD. Write your dates on one page, take it to your GP, and report it whoever you see.

Sources

1. Lustral (sertraline) 50 mg and 100 mg film-coated tablets, patient information leaflet, Electronic Medicines Compendium, last revised December 2025. Section 2, “Sexual problems”: “Medicines like Lustral (so called SSRIs) may cause symptoms of sexual dysfunction (see section 4). In some cases, these symptoms have continued after stopping treatment.”
2. Royal College of Psychiatrists, Antidepressants, published March 2025, review due March 2028. Section on SSRI side effects: “Rarely people can experience more persistent sexual side-effects after they have stopped taking SSRIs. The term ‘post SSRI sexual dysfunction’ (PSSD) has been used by some people to describe these symptoms.” “More research is needed to understand why this happens and how common it is. It is important that people experiencing ongoing sexual side-effects receive appropriate and timely support.”
3. NHS, Side effects of antidepressants, page last reviewed 12 June 2025: “for some people, these problems may carry on after stopping antidepressants”.
4. Healy D, Mangin D. Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction: barriers to quantifying incidence and prevalence. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 2024;33:e40. A commentary: doctors “do not routinely enquire about the resolution of sexual side effects after stopping an antidepressant”, and patients may have symptoms attributed to an ongoing mental health condition.
5. Healy D, Bahrick A, Bak M, et al. Diagnostic criteria for enduring sexual dysfunction after treatment with antidepressants, finasteride and isotretinoin. Int J Risk Saf Med 2022;33(1):65-76. A current mental health diagnosis “does not prevent” a PSSD diagnosis. Section 3 also describes emotional numbing, cognitive and other sensory changes.
6. Amanda Hall, AccCOSRT, Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) news, 22 May 2025. “It is therefore critical that, as therapists, we know about PSSD to be able to support those who describe the symptoms.” Also: therapists who can’t prescribe should not tell clients whether to take medication.
7. Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Department of Sexual Health, Psychosexual therapy: information for patients, reviewed April 2026. Cited as an example of how one NHS service works, not as a recommendation: medicines listed among physical causes; GP referral; 50-minute sessions, “you may have six sessions”; no physical examination.
8. NHS, Erection problems (erectile dysfunction), page last reviewed 28 July 2023: see a GP or go to a sexual health clinic if erection problems keep happening; private sex therapists should be a member of COSRT or the Institute of Psychosexual Medicine.
9. NHS, Low sex drive (loss of libido), page last reviewed 26 May 2026: antidepressants listed among the causes; see a GP.
10. NHS website, site search for “PSSD”, 21 October 2026: one result, a page on sepsis; no PSSD page or service.
11. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Yellow Card scheme. MedDRA lowest level term Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, code 10086208.
12. Moral Medicine, I Lost My Sexual Identity After Prozac, interview with Katie, May 2026. Her story on our site: Katie’s story.
13. PSSD Network, Professor Joanna Moncrieff discusses Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), YouTube, 90 seconds. Paraphrased from the film; her views are her own.