Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
This review says sexual problems are common side effects of many antidepressant medicines. The exact chance varies a lot between studies. Problems can include lower sex drive, less excitement, delayed or lost orgasms, and erection or ejaculation trouble. Some drugs (many SSRIs and venlafaxine) often show high rates, while others…
This cross-sectional study of 310 married postmenopausal women in Shiraz, Iran (mean age 55.9) measured sexual function with the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and mental health with the DASS-21. It found that 88.7% of participants met the FSFI cutoff for sexual dysfunction. Higher scores of stress, anxiety, and depression…
This review explains how the brain controls sexual responses and how three neurotransmitter systems (serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline) can change brain activity during erotic stimulation. The authors describe brain networks for different parts of sexual arousal (thinking/appraisal, feeling/pleasure, wanting/goal-directed, and bodily/autonomic responses). They also say pharmaco-fMRI (brain scans after giving drugs)…
This systematic review looked at research from 2010–2023 on how psychological well-being (PWB) and sexual health are related in adult women. The authors found and analyzed 14 studies, checked study quality with a standard tool (QATOCCS), and concluded that an association between PWB and female sexual health appears in the…
Researchers surveyed 452 women who shopped at one cannabis dispensary and used a standard sexual function test (FSFI). Women who reported using cannabis more often had higher FSFI scores, and each extra use per week was linked to a 0.61-point higher FSFI score (P = .0004). Moving up one category…
This study asked 452 outpatients in Türkiye who had used one antidepressant for at least one month about sexual problems. Using a standard questionnaire, researchers found very high rates of self-reported sexual dysfunction: 88.7% of women and 84.5% of men. Women taking bupropion reported lower levels of sexual dysfunction than…
Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) is a condition where sexual problems start with SSRIs or related antidepressants and keep going after the medicine is stopped. Common symptoms are genital numbness, weak or pleasureless orgasms, low libido, and erectile problems. Researchers say we do not know how common PSSD is because studies…
This article describes one patient who developed increased sexual urges after bupropion was added to his ongoing fluoxetine treatment. The urges dropped after bupropion was stopped and replaced with mirtazapine. The authors review other studies showing bupropion usually causes fewer sexual problems than SSRIs but can sometimes raise libido, and…
This systematic review looked at 16 studies (one randomized trial and 15 observational studies) with data from 8,849 women to see how cannabis affects female orgasm function. Most studies were low-quality and did not use formal clinical diagnoses, but many reported that using cannabis—especially before sex—was linked to better orgasm…
