When it comes to different prescribed medications, side effects are par for the course. You expect to deal with other issues that might have nothing to do with the medication, but are sort of necessary evils. For a 23-year-old woman by the name of Lauren Friedman, though, the side effects of her medication resulted in Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD).
She explains in a video on Instagram that PSSD left her without feeling in her genitals and the inability to orgasm. It might sound like a bad joke to some, but it’s a serious issue that others have faced after taking certain prescribed medications. And for Friedman, it’s something she is forced to live with as she raises awareness about PSSD.
She admitted that it’s hard for her to talk about it.
Lauren explains in her video that up to 70% of patients who take Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants can experience sexual side effects. However, she adds, not many understand that for some patients, the side effects can be permanent. That is the case for Lauren, who has dealt with the side effects herself and continues to do so.
She wrote in the caption of her video, “As I mention in the speech, I don’t want to do this. It is not fun for me to share the most intimate parts of my life with the world. But too many people have ended their lives due to the hopelessness of PSSD for this condition to remain ignored any longer. PSSD is not political — it is a human rights issue. Patients deserve full informed consent that one of the most common prescriptions has the capacity for permanent, life-altering harm. And those suffering deserve research so we can find a way back to our lives and humanities.”
In May 2026, Lauren spoke on the topic at the MAHA Institute’s Mental Health and Overmedicalization Summit. She explains in her video that PSSD is a “full nervous system injury” and not just psychological or a case of low libido. It means losing “total sexual function neurologically.”
Other people shared similar experiences.
In the comments under Lauren’s video, other women shared similar experiences after using and even discontinuing use of some SSRI antidepressants. Some shared that experiments vary from patient to patient, but that losing the ability to physically orgasm is not a special case for Lauren, but something that patients have dealt with across the board.
“As a patient with PSSD, all I can say, based on how I experience it, is that some functions may still exist, but they are damaged or broken,” one woman commented. “Obviously, the brain has countless connections and pathways.”
Another user commented, “Saddest part is that most psychologists haven’t even heard of this and would say they’ve never seen anyone with PSSD. But at the same time they have many patients with sexual dysfunction caused by their medications that have just accepted this as an acceptable side effect and don’t realize it might not go away when they stop the medication.”
There isn’t exactly a cure for Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction.
According to the National Institutes of Health, if a patient’s dosage is lowered on their SSRI medication, the symptoms of PSSD could be reduced. However, there is no guarantee. And, overall, there is no set cure for the condition and side effects.
A doctor might also suggest switching to a different medication as a way to see if the side effects related to sex and intimacy go away. But, per Lauren, raising awareness is a big part of figuring out how to get help.
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