Doctors Don’t Ask, Patients Don’t Tell: Some Surprising Side Effects of Treating Depression
In any given year, up to 14 million adults in the U.S. are affected by major depressive disorder (MDD), commonly referred to as depression. Ten percent of women and 4 percent of men aged 18 and older now take antidepressants for depression. Surprisingly, however, many patients may not be aware that the medicine they are taking may cause sexual problems. This may cause some confusion because sexual problems can also be a symptom of depression.
In a recent survey, conducted by International Communications Research on behalf of GlaxoSmith Kline, of 1,003 men and women prescribed antidepressant medication to treat depression, sexual problems were cited by about half (48 percent) of respondents as the most commonly experienced side effect of antidepressants.
“Many people don’t realize that their sexual problems can be caused by major depressive disorder itself or by some of the treatments,” said Adam Keller Ashton, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry with the State University of New York at Buffalo. According to the survey, a lack of sex...