PSSD Scotland

Promoting recognition, research and awareness for Post-SSRI/SNRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD).

[PSSD Scotland @PssdScotland]

@BStulberg I’m 11 yrs off sertraline & still waiting on the sexual, cognitive & emotional dysfunction it caused to subside. It’s ruined my life. I’m sure some people do benefit from them but they are catastrophic to others & you owe it to your patients to fully inform them of these risks.

[Strelitzia - Dr. Lisa Bennink @Strelitzia_heal]

I knew sexual dysfunction was common with SSRIs — but assumed it was temporary, a side effect of general emotional blunting. These testimonies suggest something more serious: lasting neurological damage. That changes things.

PSSD is almost certainly just the tip of the iceberg. Sexual dysfunction is rarely discussed in clinical practice — doctors are embarrassed, patients don't volunteer it. Until there's more awareness, we won't have a realistic picture of how many people are affected during treatment, let alone after stopping.

This is exactly why informed consent matters before anyone starts these drugs.

[Lexi Laios @_Lexworth_]

As a 28-year-old who experienced the massive negative impact of these poisons from ages 15-19, I most certainly can confirm this statement. My expertise comes from lived experience and is, therefore, far more valuable than any so called, "mental health professional."

[USA TODAY @USATODAY]

After stopping antidepressants, this 23-year-old said she experienced a “chemical castration." What to know about PSSD, according to experts. https://t.co/jfG3KoxoMq

[Grant @GrantS0227]

I’m sure there are many well meaning psychiatrists, but of course their patients are not being cured.

They have been taught to use mind-numbing, and mind-altering drugs that mask people’s very real problems and illnesses. Conventional psychiatry is not about getting to the root cause.

Many patients suffer with health issues such as heavy metals, parasites, Lyme, mold, and more. Most of these things are almost never tested for in Western medicine, and just given a psychiatric drug for such as an SSRI.

Giving someone a drug that erases their sexual function and emotions is not healing.

[Grant @GrantS0227]

A drug that can cause sexual dysfunction and emotional blunting that continues decades after cessation requires more than a five minute discussion in a doctor’s office.

[Pear Joseph @thepearjoseph]

I did an interview about SSRIs, PSSD and my experience with the mental health industry.

Link in replies.

[Mikhaila Peterson @MikhailaFuller]

.@LauraDelano was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 14 and spent the next 13 years on psychiatric medications including lithium, Lamictal, Abilify, Effexor, and Ativan.

After being labeled “treatment resistant” and nearly ending her life, she started questioning whether the medications themselves were part of the problem.

In this conversation, Laura walks through what happened when she came off five psychiatric drugs, the years-long withdrawal process that followed, and how she rebuilt her health afterward. She also explains why she founded Intercompass Initiative, a nonprofit helping people taper off psychiatric medications safely.

We discuss:
• Psychiatric drug dependence and withdrawal
• Withdrawal vs. relapse
• Hyperbolic tapering
• The chemical imbalance theory
• Akathisia and neurological symptoms
• Diet and recovery
• Birth control and psychiatric medication
• RFK Jr. and psychiatric drug policy
• TikTok censorship
• Why 1 in 4 Americans are now on psych meds

[CCHR Florida @CCHR_Florida]

What are your thoughts on this shocking fact? Leave your opinions in the comments section below. #mentalhealth #antidepressants #adhd

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

I do think the fact that relapse and mental health pathology has such primacy in medical education and adverse effects and withdrawal effects are so secondary (and often minimised) is a key to this issue and informs the faulty priors of clinicians.

This is a condition @awaisaftab often accuses critics of possessing but I do think this is at the centre of this conundrum. Doctors who don't perceive these iatrogenic harms then hear patients online railing against the harm they've suffered and imagine this must be confected or exaggerated based on their perception. I think it also makes patients attribute maliciousness to clinicians which is really just explained by a frame formed by their education for the most part and not any form of malice.

[Fiona French, freedom is bliss @benzosarebad]

I often think of Jo. I got to know here quite well online. She took her own life. She was prescribed an SSRI as a teen due to low confidence in her first job. The end result was death.

[Mikhaila Peterson @MikhailaFuller]

“I never see psych med withdrawal” = “I have misdiagnosed withdrawal as a recurrence or worsening of psychiatric issues 100% of the time.”

[Laura Delano @LauraDelano]

PSA: Advocating that people who want to stop their antidepressants are provided with safe, reliable information about tapering off them is not the same thing as advocating that people taper off antidepressants.

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

There are now 100,000s of patients online reporting that their psychiatrists dismissed or mis-diagnosed their psychiatric drug withdrawal. Understandable given guidelines. The fact that prominent psychiatrists still deny this just shows how far we are from sense.

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

I wonder if the moral panic over Prof Moncrieff’s critiques has anything to do with them being so obvious and compelling that it stirs disquiet in the souls of psychiatrists? If they were as silly and misguided as they were said to be then I wonder why so many people would spend so many hours arguing with them?

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

It is sad to see the @nytimes get so many things wrong in this piece: most people given ADs do not have severe, life-threatening conditions, natural recovery is high, relapse prevention trials are flawed, no discussion about hyperbolic tapering.

[Angie Peacock, MSW, CPC @angpeacock1111]

I have 4,000 clients on my mailing list, 8,000 each on YouTube and Facebook and there are 400,000 patients online WITHOUT competent support for psych med withdrawal. I was also one of these patients and had to heal on my own.

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

For years, patients were told that coming off antidepressants was straightforward. But some have described intense and prolonged symptoms.

Now, doctors and health officials are reckoning with the challenges of getting off SSRIs. https://t.co/qBbNMTUIoA

[Kevin Roy @KevinRo90321458]

Effect Of Glutamate Dendritic Pruning On Dopamine
(part of the reason why you can't feel from a SSRI)

Building on last night post, this is a extension of the information on the Serotonin --> Glutamate --> Dopamine connection.

Hopefully yesterdays demonstration that SSRI cause a weakening of the glutamate wiring structure in the brain makes reasonable sense. The question now becomes.

Why does glutamate synaptic pruning flatten emotions?

In simplest terms glutamate enhances the strength of dopamine signals. It's a tricky concept to grasp. I'll try to explain using a musical drum set.

Your dopamine neurons will fire on their own and produce their own signal. What glutamate does is excite the dopamine neuron. This increases the strength of the signal of dopamine. If you were playing on a drum set. The dopamine neuron on it's own is lightly tapping a small drum. With the help of glutamate you are switching to the Big Bass drum with the foot pedal thereby greatly increasing the strength of what is felt through your emotional range. Glutamate makes the drum more powerful.

When the SSRI forces synaptic pruning of glutamate those little dendritic branches that are now missing were wired into dopamine neurons providing the excitatory signal needed to amplify communication on the dopamine system. For the electricians reading this think of glutamate in terms of voltage for dopamine neurons. Therefore when you weaken glutamate by reducing it's complexity you are cutting off a portion of dopamine neuron power source. You are effectively returning a large sub woofer to the music store and accepting a cheaper lower quality speaker as a replacement.

The SSRI is effectively reducing the power source for dopamine neurons. This squashes your emotional range.

[PSSD Scotland @PssdScotland]

@gbunny @fuqekgs There are still doctors telling patients that they have a “chemical imbalance” as the rationale for prescribing SSRIs because no one has thought to tell them that was a lie. And it’s a global issue.

[Loading... @PieAreSqwared]

@newstart_2024 I’ve missed the prime of my 20s as a result of PSSD. Same symptoms as Lauren. Genital numbness, Anorgasmia, ED so severe that I can’t have penetrable sex. Even if I could, I wouldn’t feel fuck all. Suicidal every day as a result. We need research