Sertraline sexual side effects: can they last?
Sertraline (Zoloft, Lustral) commonly causes sexual side effects. The UK leaflet warns they have sometimes continued after stopping. That is called PSSD.
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Sertraline (Zoloft, Lustral) commonly causes sexual side effects, such as a lower sex drive, erection problems and trouble ejaculating. The UK leaflet warns that these problems have sometimes continued after stopping, a condition known as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD).
PSSD is more than sexual problems. Under the 2022 diagnostic criteria, its core is a lasting change in genital sensation, often numbness, and people also describe emotional numbing, problems with thinking and changes in other senses.
No reliable figure exists for how often it happens, so no one can tell you your own chances. The NHS page on sertraline doesn’t mention the warning.
The story in 3 lines
1. Sexual problems, such as a low sex drive, are a common side effect of sertraline (NHS).
2. The UK leaflet warns they have sometimes continued after stopping (leaflet).
3. No reliable figure exists for how often. Patients call it PSSD (review).
Press: contact@sidefxhub.com
Connor, not his real name, started sertraline in his 30s. His sex drive had gone within 24 hours of his first tablet, he told BBC Scotland. Twelve months after he stopped, it hadn’t come back. “I still have numbness in my genitals,” he says.
Watch the BBC film to hear Connor describe it in his own words.
Depression wasn’t the cause, as he sees it. “When I considered myself to be a depressed person, I had a very healthy sex life.”
How common are sertraline’s sexual side effects?
Very common. The UK leaflet says ejaculation failure may affect more than 1 in 10 people who take sertraline. It lists a lower sex drive and erection problems as common too.
One trial asked about sex at every visit, so nobody had to bring it up themselves. It found problems in far more people than the leaflet suggests, in men and women, some within a week.
The NHS says most side effects ease after a couple of weeks, but some can last longer.
Can sertraline sexual side effects last after stopping?
Yes, for some people. The UK leaflet says that in some cases sexual symptoms “have continued after stopping treatment”.
When that happens, it’s called PSSD. The 2022 criteria are only proposed so far, and there’s no official diagnosis yet. At their centre is a lasting change in genital feeling, such as numbness, three months or more after the last tablet.
It isn’t new. In 2006, doctors in Canada reported a man whose genital numbness began on sertraline and was still there six years after he stopped.
Anthony took 11 tablets, at 25 mg, for mild insomnia. He describes emotional numbness within days, and genital numbness that didn’t go away when he stopped. His story has its own page.
A 2023 review of the published studies couldn’t find a reliable figure for how often this happens.
Why wasn’t I told about this?
The warning is there, but it’s one sentence in the leaflet inside the box, and it’s easy to miss.
That sentence arrived in 2019, when the EU medicines regulator asked for a warning on ten SSRI and SNRI antidepressants, sertraline among them. UK product information for all SSRIs was updated that year, a health minister told Parliament in 2025. Experts were reviewing the evidence, the minister said, because of concerns about “the ongoing lack of awareness of the existing warnings”.
In December 2025, advisers to the UK medicines regulator recommended updating the leaflets of certain antidepressants. Patients and families had said this risk wasn’t clearly explained. On 15 October 2026 the regulator, the MHRA, said the term “PSSD” will be added to the leaflets of these antidepressants, sertraline among them. The Lustral leaflet we checked on 21 October 2026 doesn’t use it yet.
A 2026 paper by New Zealand’s medicines regulator says some health professionals may not know about it either. New to PSSD? In this 90-second film, Professor Joanna Moncrieff, a psychiatrist at University College London, explains what is known and what isn’t. It’s background on PSSD in general, not about sertraline alone.
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: the leaflet says your doctor will lower the dose gradually.
If you’ve stopped and something hasn’t come back, tell your GP. Many people say it took time to be taken seriously.
Questions to take to your GP
An opening line: "Since stopping sertraline, something hasn't come back, and the leaflet says this can happen."
1. Could anything else explain these changes, and what should we check?
2. Can you record in my notes that this started on sertraline?
3. Will you report it to the Yellow Card scheme, or should I?
Bring the leaflet line, and write down your medicine and what changed, beyond sex too: “Sertraline 50 mg from January 2023, last tablet March 2024. Touch feels numb. Emotions feel flat.” You can report it without a doctor agreeing.
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?
Does sertraline affect women’s sex drive?
Yes. In the trial that asked about sex at every visit, about 4 in 10 women on sertraline developed sexual problems. It had no placebo group to compare with. The UK leaflet lists female sexual dysfunction as a side effect, and its warning about problems continuing after stopping covers women too.
Isn’t it just the depression?
Depression often lowers sex drive on its own, the New Zealand paper notes. PSSD is different. Its criteria centre on a lasting change in genital feeling after the tablets stop, in someone who didn’t have that problem before.
Is PSSD permanent?
For some people it has lasted years after stopping. Nobody knows yet who will be affected, or whether it will ease. Whether people fully recover “has never been properly investigated”, two researchers wrote in 2024.
A year after his last tablet, Connor’s numbness was still there. If something like that has happened to you, report it, even years after stopping.
Sources
- Lustral 50 mg and 100 mg film-coated tablets, patient information leaflet, last revised December 2025. Section 2, “Sexual problems”; section 4, side effects and their frequency; section 3, “If you stop taking Lustral”. Electronic Medicines Compendium.
- NHS, Sertraline, page last reviewed 8 September 2025.
- BBC News, Antidepressants: I wasn’t told about the side effects, 9 August 2023. Connor is a pseudonym.
- Segraves RT, Kavoussi R, Hughes AR and colleagues. Evaluation of sexual functioning in depressed outpatients: a double-blind comparison of sustained-release bupropion and sertraline treatment. J Clin Psychopharmacol 2000;20(2):122-8. 248 adults with normal sexual function at the start, 16 weeks, structured interview at every visit; sexual dysfunction in 63% of men and 41% of women on sertraline. No placebo group.
- 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.
- Bolton JM, Sareen J, Reiss JP. Genital anaesthesia persisting six years after sertraline discontinuation. J Sex Marital Ther 2006;32(4):327-30.
- Tarchi L, Merola GP, Baccaredda-Boy O and colleagues. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, post-treatment sexual dysfunction and persistent genital arousal disorder: a systematic review. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2023;32(10):1053-67.
- Healy D, Mangin D. Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction: barriers to quantifying incidence and prevalence. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 2024;33:e40.
- European Medicines Agency, PRAC, recommendations on signals adopted at the 13-16 May 2019 PRAC meeting, EMA/PRAC/265212/2019. Persistent sexual dysfunction after drug withdrawal, SSRIs and SNRIs, adopted 16 May 2019. The wording is for ten medicines: citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline, desvenlafaxine, duloxetine, milnacipran and venlafaxine.
- UK Parliament, written answer 50758, Karin Smyth MP, Department of Health and Social Care, 13 May 2025. It says the product information “for all selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) was updated in 2019”. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.
- MHRA, Patient and family experiences inform antidepressant safety information review, 1 December 2025. Review of the leaflets of 28 antidepressants by an expert group of the Commission on Human Medicines.
- Medsafe, Update on sexual dysfunction following discontinuation of serotonin reuptake inhibitors, paper for the Medicines Adverse Reactions Committee, 11 June 2026. Sections 2.2.1 (sexual dysfunction in depression) and 3.3.
- MHRA, Antidepressants: new safety measures for all patients to improve communication of the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours and persistent sexual dysfunction, Drug Safety Update, 15 October 2026. “The term “Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction” (“PSSD”) will be added to the PILs of antidepressants associated with a risk of sexual dysfunction that may continue even after the drug is stopped.” Footnote 1 names citalopram, escitalopram, duloxetine, fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine, amitriptyline and nortriptyline. On 21 October 2026 the Lustral leaflet (source 1) did not contain the term.
- Videos: BBC News, Antidepressants: should we talk about side-effects?, 11 August 2023; Moral Medicine, interview with Anthony, 20 October 2025; PSSD Network, Professor Joanna Moncrieff on PSSD, June 2026.
This information does not replace medical advice. Talk to your doctor before you make any decision about your treatment.
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Sertraline: what the official texts say, country by country
For the SSRI antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft, Lustral), the product information we read in the United Kingdom says there have been reports of long-lasting sexual dysfunction where symptoms continued after SSRIs were stopped. This is known as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD). The EU medicines regulator set the wording of this warning in 2019 for ten medicines, sertraline among them, and a government answer in Parliament says UK product information for all SSRIs was updated in 2019 to carry it.
This is a record of what each text says and of the date it prints. A text is quoted in its own words, or summarised where the row says so. It is not a comparison of countries. All medicines and countries
Sertraline: the official texts, country by country (36 texts read)
| Country or region | What the text says | Document | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping4.4 Special warnings and precautions for use · Sexual dysfunction Sexual side effects, as listed4.8 Undesirable effects · Table 1 · Reproductive system and breast disorders · Very Common (≥1/10) Sexual side effects, as listed4.8 Undesirable effects · Table 1 · Reproductive system and breast disorders · Common (≥1/100 to <1/10) Sexual side effects, as listed4.8 Undesirable effects · Table 1 · Reproductive system and breast disorders · Uncommon (≥1/1,000 to <1/100) Sexual side effects, as listed4.8 Undesirable effects · Table 1 · Reproductive system and breast disorders · Rare (≥1/10,000 to <1/1,000) | Text for professionals Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC): Lustral 100mg film coated tabletsLustral 100 mg film coated tablets, Viatris Products Limited · Read in a compendium of product information: emcAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence; 5 related documents, with such a sentence | Text revisedChecked |
| European Union | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping3. Serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRI); selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) – Persistent sexual dysfunction after drug withdrawal (EPITT no 19277) · Summary of product characteristics · 4.4. Special warnings and precautions for use · Sexual dysfunction Sexual side effects that continue after stopping3. Serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRI); selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) – Persistent sexual dysfunction after drug withdrawal (EPITT no 19277) · Package leaflet · 2. What you need to know before you take [Invented name] · Warnings and precautions The wording is for ten medicines: citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline, desvenlafaxine, duloxetine, milnacipran and venlafaxine. This is wording for national product texts. There is no single EU product text for this medicine. | Document from the regulator New product information wording – Extracts from PRAC recommendations on signals. Adopted at the 13-16 May 2019 PRACRead on the regulator's site: European Medicines AgencyAlso on record: 1 more related document, with such a sentence | PublishedChecked |
| United States | Sexual side effects, as listed5 WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS · 5.11 Sexual Dysfunction This text has no sentence about sexual side effects continuing after the medicine is stopped. On 13 October 2026 we searched the labels in the FDA's open database. A sentence about sexual dysfunction continuing after stopping stood on none of the 423 labels that name sertraline. | Text for professionals ZOLOFT (sertraline hydrochloride) tablets, for oral use; ZOLOFT (sertraline hydrochloride) oral solution: Full Prescribing InformationZoloft tablets 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg, and oral solution 20 mg/mL, Viatris Specialty LLC · Read in the government's medicines database: DailyMedAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with no such sentence; related document, with no such sentence | Text revisedChecked |
| Canada | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping7 WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS · Reproductive Health: Female and Male Potential · Function Sexual side effects, as listed8 ADVERSE REACTIONS · 8.2 Clinical Trial Adverse Reactions · Depression | Text for professionals PRODUCT MONOGRAPH INCLUDING PATIENT MEDICATION INFORMATION: ZOLOFT, Sertraline Hydrochloride CapsulesZoloft capsules 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg, BGP Pharma ULC · Read in the regulator's own database: Drug Product DatabaseAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with no such sentence; 2 related documents, with such a sentence | Text revisedChecked |
| Australia | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping4.4 Special warnings and precautions for use · Sexual DysfunctionSection 4.4 of Australia's product information for Zoloft has a warning headed sexual dysfunction. It says there are reports of sexual dysfunction that lasted a long time, with symptoms going on after SSRIs were stopped.Summarised, not quoted, because of the TGA's access terms. Sexual side effects, as listedSection 4.8 · Reproductive system and breast disorders · CommonSection 4.8 lists ejaculation disorder and sexual dysfunction as common side effects and points back to section 4.4.Summarised, not quoted, because of the TGA's access terms. The regulator's site asks readers to accept its terms before it shows this text. | Text for professionals AUSTRALIAN PRODUCT INFORMATION ZOLOFT (sertraline hydrochloride) tabletZOLOFT, Viatris · Read in the regulator's own database: TGA eBSAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence; related document, could not be opened | Text revisedChecked |
| New Zealand | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping4.4. Special warnings and precautions for use · Sexual dysfunction The originator product is not in the list we read. This is another product from that list. | Text for professionals New Zealand Data Sheet, SETRONASetrona 50 mg and 100 mg film coated tablets, Douglas Pharmaceuticals Ltd · Read in the regulator's own database: MedsafeAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence; 3 related documents, with such a sentence | Text revisedChecked |
| Germany | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping4.4 Besondere Warnhinweise und Vorsichtsmaßnahmen für die Anwendung · Sexuelle Funktionsstörung This is the copy in a compendium of product information. The regulator's database asks visitors to accept its terms first, which we did not do. | Text for professionals FachinformationZoloft Filmtabletten, Viatris Pharma GmbH · Read in a compendium of product information: fachinfo.deAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence; related document, with such a sentence | Text revisedChecked |
| France | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping4.4. Mises en garde spéciales et précautions d'emploi · Dysfonction sexuelle The text itself prints no date of revision. | Text for professionals Résumé des Caractéristiques du ProduitZOLOFT 50 mg, gélule, VIATRIS UP · Read in the government's medicines database: Base de données publique des médicamentsAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence; related document, with no such sentence | Updated by the regulatorChecked |
| Italy | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping4.4 Avvertenze speciali e precauzioni di impiego · Disfunzione sessuale The text itself prints no date of revision. | Text for professionals Riassunto delle Caratteristiche del ProdottoZoloft 25 mg, 50 mg e 100 mg compresse rivestite con film, Viatris Pharma S.r.l. · Read in the regulator's own database: Banca Dati FarmaciAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence | Made available by the regulatorChecked |
| Spain | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping4.4. Advertencias y precauciones especiales de empleo · Disfunción sexual | Text for professionals Ficha técnicaBesitran 50 mg comprimidos recubiertos con película, Viatris Healthcare Limited · Read in the regulator's own database: CIMAAlso on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence; related document, with such a sentence | Text revisedChecked |
| Brazil | Sexual side effects that continue after stopping5. ADVERTÊNCIAS E PRECAUÇÕES · Disfunção sexual This is the holder's own copy. The regulator's database refused our requests (it blocks by country; we asked from Denmark). | Text for professionals ZOLOFT® cloridrato de sertralina: bula do profissional de saúde (VPS)Zoloft comprimidos revestidos 50 mg e 100 mg, Viatris Farmacêutica do Brasil Ltda. · Read on the holder's own site: Viatris Farmacêutica do Brasil Ltda.Also on record: patients' leaflet, with such a sentence | Last change listedChecked |
| India | We could not open this text on 13 October 2026: this regulator publishes no database of such texts; the holder publishes no text. This says nothing about what the text contains. | Text for professionalsDaxid 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg tablets, Viatris IndiaWe tried: cdsco.gov.in/opencms/opencms/en/Notifications/Prescribing-Information/ | Tried |
Brand names
These are the brand names of sertraline we saw in the official lists, compendia and regulators' pages we opened on or after 13 October 2026. A country may have more.
- Zoloft
- United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil
- Lustral
- United Kingdom
- Altisben
- Spain
- Aremis
- Spain
- Besitran
- Spain
- Semonic
- Spain
- Tatig
- Italy
- Eleva
- Australia
- Sertra
- Australia
- Setrona
- Australia, New Zealand
- Afetus
- Brazil
- Assert
- Brazil
- Dieloft
- Brazil
- Ralzin
- Brazil
- Recapser
- Brazil
- Serenata
- Brazil
- Tolrest
- Brazil
- Trasolin
- Brazil
- Zysertin
- Brazil
What is not known
- No reliable figure exists for how often PSSD happens. (source)
- One study of health records gives an estimate for men, counted through prescriptions for erection medicines. (source)
- It is not known how many people fully recover. (source)
- None of the product texts we read says how long the sexual dysfunction can last. (source)
Code and reporting
In a report to a medicines regulator, the term is Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (MedDRA code 10086208). Where to report, country by country
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