Prolonged Post-Treatment Genital Anesthesia and Sexual Dysfunction Following Discontinuation of Citalopram and the Atypical Antidepressant Nefazodone
Robert P. Kauffman; Amanda Murdock
The Open Women's Health Journal2007
Venue reputation unverified
Summary (paraphrased)
The authors report cases of sustained genital anesthesia and sexual dysfunction persisting after stopping citalopram, including a patient switched to nefazodone — a drug usually considered free of sexual side effects — whose symptoms still did not resolve. They review scattered early reports of persistent post-SSRI sexual effects and argue the phenomenon deserves recognition rather than dismissal as psychogenic. The paper is among the earliest to document prolonged genital anesthesia specifically as a post-treatment entity.
Why it’s in the corpus
Early (2007) documentation of persistent genital anesthesia after SSRI discontinuation. Historical anchor showing the signal predates the PSSD label.
Related records
- Peer-reviewed paper
Enduring sexual dysfunction after treatment with antidepressants, 5α-reductase inhibitors and isotretinoin: 300 cases
Healy, David; Le Noury, Joanna; Mangin, Dee · International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine · 29(3-4):125-134
Drawing on reports submitted to the RxISK.org adverse-event site, the authors assembled 300 cases of persistent sexual difficulty from 37 countries after treatment with serotonin reuptake inhibiting antidepressants, finasteride-type drugs, or isotretinoin…
CROSS-0012018PFSPSSDPRSDCore corpus - Peer-reviewed paper
Penile anesthesia in Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD) responds to low-power laser irradiation: A case study and hypothesis about the role of transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels
Marcel D. Waldinger; Ruben S. van Coevorden; Dave H. Schweitzer; Janniko R. Georgiadis · European Journal of Pharmacology
A man who developed penile anesthesia and scrotal hypesthesia on paroxetine, persisting two years after stopping the drug, received 20 sessions of low-power laser irradiation to the glans penis, the nerve branches at the base of the penis and the lower back…
LIT-0262015PSSDLiterature sweep · Oct 2026 - Peer-reviewed paper
Genotoxicity and DNA Damage in Long-Term SSRI Therapy: A Review Across SSRIs With Citalopram as a Case Study
Emadeldin M. Kamel, Sally Mostafa Khadrawy, Nour Y. S. Yassin, Noha A. Ahmed · Journal of Applied Toxicology
Review of genotoxicity and DNA damage reported across SSRIs in long-term therapy, with citalopram as a detailed case study. Surveys the evidence that chronic SSRI exposure produces DNA-level damage.
EPI-0052026PSSDEpigenetics supplement · Oct 2026