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Sexual dysfunction and depression

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Abstract

Sexual functioning is generally impaired during depression. Interest in the relationship between sexual dysfunction and depression has risen substantially, prompted primarily by 1) the 1998 Food and Drug Administration approval of sildenafil citrate as the first oral therapy of erectile dysfunction, and 2) the widespread clinical use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which prominently impair orgasm, and possibly libido and arousal. In this paper, we first review the phenomenology of sexual dysfunction and important contributing factors, such as age and illness, and then focus on the clinical assessment and therapeutic interventions used for sexual dysfunction in depressed individuals.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1051 Riverside Drive, 10032, New York, NY, USA

    Stuart N. Seidman MD & Steven P. Roose MD

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  1. Stuart N. Seidman MD
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  2. Steven P. Roose MD
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Seidman, S.N., Roose, S.P. Sexual dysfunction and depression. Curr Psychiatry Rep 3, 202–208 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-001-0053-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-001-0053-7

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