PSSD clinical trials: can I join one now?

As of October 2026, we found no study of post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) that you can join today. PSSD can follow an SSRI antidepressant, such as sertraline, and carry on after the last tablet. The closest study, DAWN in Australia, is getting ready to take volunteers. You can put your name down now.

If you have PSSD, you may want to help find out what causes it. Before you hand over your details, check the study is really open. Some are still only plans. Others have already closed.

PSSD is more than a sex problem, even though the name says so. In 2022, doctors and researchers proposed a checklist to recognise it. At its core is a lasting change in genital feeling, such as numbness. The checklist also lists emotional numbing, problems with concentration and memory, and changes in other senses. The UK leaflet for Cipralex (escitalopram) says sexual problems have, in some cases, “continued after stopping treatment”.

Rosie developed PSSD after taking Lexapro (escitalopram). When Moral Medicine interviewed her in July 2024, she was president of the PSSD Network, the Australian charity now helping to pay for DAWN. In this clip, she describes what living with PSSD is like.

Play video: Interview with Rosie, PSSD Network President

Are there any PSSD studies I can join right now?

Not yet, as far as we can find. We checked each at its own page on 27 October 2026:

• DAWN, Melbourne, Australia: not taking volunteers yet, but its sign-up list is open.
• ClinicalTrials.gov: no study of PSSD listed.
• An online survey from Queen’s University, Canada, 2023: no longer on the lab’s list of studies.
• A small US study that tested blood for antibodies: it stopped taking new people in May 2026.

Older calls for volunteers, some from 2023, still turn up online. Before replying, check the date and ask if it’s still open.

What is the DAWN study, and who can take part?

DAWN wants to find out what’s going on in the body of someone with PSSD. It’s run by the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne, with the PSSD Network.

Taking part will mean one visit of about an hour and a half in Melbourne. The team plans to measure how numb your skin is, ask you questions, examine you and take blood and other samples. Our page on PSSD sensation studies explains how a London team measured numbness.

DAWN hopes for two groups of about 125 people. The first is people whose genital numbness has lasted three months or more after stopping an SSRI or a similar antidepressant. The second, for comparison, is people without PSSD of the same age, sex and area. Friends and family can join this group. Without enough people in it, the network says, the study can’t go ahead.

All we know about DAWN comes from the PSSD Network, which helps fund it. We couldn’t find a page about it on the Florey’s website.

Where the DAWN study is, October 2026

Done

First phase fundedThe PSSD Network's money, matched by the Florey.

Now

Finishing approvalsContracts, safety checks and an ethics panel's approval for changes.

Next

Volunteers invitedAustralians first. No start date announced yet.

Then

Visits in MelbourneAbout an hour and a half each.

How can I tell if a PSSD study is safe to join?

Ask who runs it, and whether a research ethics committee has approved it. That’s an independent panel that checks a study before it starts. In the UK, all medical research involving people needs that approval first, the NHS says, and you can leave at any point without giving a reason.

A sign-up list isn’t the study itself.

How will I hear about new PSSD studies?

Often through patient groups, and on public websites that list studies. A 2026 UK study of what living with PSSD is like found its volunteers through a UK patient group. Our page on PSSD support groups lists where to find them.

On ClinicalTrials.gov, search for “post-SSRI sexual dysfunction”. “PSSD” on its own brings up psoriasis trials, which share the letters. In the UK, the NHS points to Be Part of Research, a list of UK studies. Check both every few months.

Research hasn’t stopped while studies get ready. In April 2026 a US bladder and sexual health specialist, Dr Kenneth Peters, brought researchers together. They work on PSSD and two similar conditions, linked to the hair-loss medicine finasteride and the acne medicine isotretinoin.

His anonymous survey of all three drew over 1,100 replies within weeks, he told us. It’s background, not a study you can join.

Play video: Dr Kenneth Peters on what researchers will do next

Our registry is how we keep in touch with you. It isn’t a study, and we never share your data.

Antidepressants 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.
• Where: the Yellow Card scheme in the UK, MedWatch in the US. Our Yellow Card guide for PSSD shows each step.
• 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?

Can I join DAWN if I don’t live in Australia? You can put your name down from anywhere, the PSSD Network says. Australians will be asked first. It may open abroad if it needs more people. There’s no promise.

Why are there so few PSSD studies? PSSD is hard to study, two of the doctors behind the 2022 checklist wrote in 2024. You can’t ethically give people an antidepressant to see who gets PSSD. Drug company trials rarely follow people up after they stop, and some standard questionnaires don’t ask about genital feeling.

Are there trials of PSSD treatments? We found no trial of a PSSD treatment on ClinicalTrials.gov in October 2026. If someone offers you a treatment described as a study, ask the five questions above and talk to your doctor. Our page on whether PSSD goes away covers recovery.

To hear when DAWN opens, add your name to the PSSD Network’s sign-up form. It’s a list, not the study, so ask the five questions again if the team contacts you. A friend or partner without PSSD can sign up for the comparison group too.

Sources

1. PSSD Network, September 2026 quarterly update, 30 September 2026. DAWN was “finishing three administrative and regulatory steps” (clinical governance, contracts, and an “ethics amendment” for changes to the study) before collecting data. Phase 1 is funded by the PSSD Network, matched by the Florey. Aim: 125 PSSD patients and 125 matched controls, “not a hard minimum”. PSSD here means genital numbness lasting 3 or more months after stopping a serotonergic antidepressant. Controls are matched by age, sex and region and tested at the same time. Australians first; the study may widen. Anyone can sign up to the research database. “Without enough matched controls, the study can’t go ahead.” The PSSD Network co-funds the study, so it is not an independent source. No Florey page on DAWN was found.
2. PSSD Network, June 2026 mid-year update, 30 June 2026. Planned 1.5-hour visit at the Florey Genetics Clinic, Parkville, Melbourne. It includes a skin numbness assessment, questionnaires, a clinical examination, and blood and other samples. Friends and family are encouraged to join as controls.
3. PSSD Network, research participant sign-up form, opened 27 October 2026. A database “of PSSD participants and matched controls for use in future research”; controls may be a “friend, family member, or partner”. Recruitment is “limited to Australian participants”; others “will be contacted if this extends globally”.
4. ClinicalTrials.gov, search for post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, US National Library of Medicine, searched 27 October 2026. Also searched: “PSSD” with “antidepressant”, “enduring sexual dysfunction” and “persistent sexual dysfunction”. No PSSD study listed.
5. Queen’s University Sexual Health Research Laboratory, participate page, opened 27 October 2026: the 2023 PSSD online questionnaire (announced by RxISK, 23 February 2023) is no longer listed.
6. INIDA Research Fund, PSSD GPCR autoantibody study, University of Oklahoma pilot. Update of 6 May 2026: no new participants taken.
7. 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: “An enduring change in somatic (tactile) or erogenous (sexual) genital sensation after treatment stops”. Ancillary symptoms: “emotional numbing”, “other sensory problems involving skin, smell, taste or vision”, “cognitive impairment”. Also: “The incidence of these conditions is unknown.”
8. Lundbeck Limited. Cipralex (escitalopram) patient information leaflet, electronic Medicines Compendium, revised May 2025. Section 2: “In some cases, these symptoms have continued after stopping treatment.”
9. Healy D, Mangin D. Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction: barriers to quantifying incidence and prevalence. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 2024;33:e40. Research “remains scarce owing to the difficulty in designing a suitable method”. A randomised trial “would be unethical”. Company studies “do not often include follow-up to check for enduring side effects”. Some validated questionnaires “do not include questions about genital sensation”.
10. Brugi S, Budd B, Mackie C, Fish S. “It’s taken away the most fundamental things about being human”: the lived experience and impact of post-SSRI sexual dysfunction. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being 2026;21(1):2717470. University of East Anglia; ten interviews; recruited “via the UK PSSD Association”.
11. NHS, Clinical trials, page last reviewed 22 December 2022. UK guidance. Research involving people “first has to be approved by an independent research ethics committee”. You can “leave at any point without giving a reason”. Names the Be Part of Research website, with research “from several different UK registers”.
12. SIDEfxHUB, Interview with Dr Kenneth Peters, April 2026. Our write-up: Dr Kenneth Peters on the first PFS/PSSD/PAS summit. The survey covered “all three conditions”, was “promoted through social media and patient advocacy groups” and drew “over 1,100 responses” within weeks.
13. Moral Medicine, Interview with PSSD Network President Rosie, 9 July 2024.
14. MedDRA term Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, code 10086208 (version 28.0).

Sources checked on 27 October 2026. AI-assisted writing and review, not clinical review.