Psychiatrists don’t want us to speak about drug harm as it may dissuade suicidal ppl from taking their pills. Yet countless
#PSSD
sufferers have taken their own lives because SSRIs made their bodies uninhabitable. Psychiatry kills.
At 34 I have no emotions, numb private parts, cognitive problems, debilitating insomnia etc. I don’t think ppl truly grasp what it means to choose between another 40+ years with zero QoL or ending it because that may be the only two options left.
#PSSD
There’s very little data on
#PSSD
because patients routinely encounter dismissive attitudes and doctors don’t report it. Then that lack of data is used to further dismiss us. And that is how you successfully cover up life altering harm for 30 years.
Life moves on without you. My friends are getting new jobs, renovating houses. Even my parents are enjoying their retirement. Meanwhile my life stopped 4 years ago. I can’t sleep. I can’t go to the bathroom. I had to quit my job. I can’t feel a thing.
#PSSD
PSSD and other iatrogenic conditions are really an unparalleled crime in history. We are a generation of young people whose lives were stolen under the guise of medical care and there’s no treatment.
#PSSD
I think something like a ‘Me Too’ movement for psychiatry is long overdue. Enough people have been harmed. It’s time we bring this to light.
#prescribedharm
#PSSD
@PaulMinotMD
I maintain that it’s a confluence of perverse incentives and well-meaning individual action that got us here, and it’s kind of a house of cards. A “Me Too” moment for psychiatric harm, brought on by a well-publicized mainstream narrative story, will see it collapse and reorder.
Daily reminder that there’s been case reports about
#PSSD
since 1991. Your doctor prescribed you an SSRI without warning that it may lead to a complete loss of sexuality and emotional capacity anyway.
If you have
#PSSD
and still somehow manage to live in this world you’re a fighter. No living being was meant to exist in a complete vacuum of no emotions. Without real connection. Deprived of our most basic instincts like sexuality. It’s torture.
I went through some of my old writing before
#PSSD
today and it’s like those were written by a different person. The cognitive effects are immense. Now my writing comes out rote and robotic sounding. I have no access to my imagination anymore.
Even leaving PSSD aside for a moment, who the hell thinks it’s acceptable to prescribe a drug that causes sexual dysfunction in 60-80% of people using it? SSRIs should be pulled from the market.
#PSSD
haunts me every second of the day. That blanket of numbness is wrapped around me when I’m at the gym. It’s there when I’m with my family. It’s there when I run errands or watch a show. 3 weeks on Mirtazapine have turned my body into a prison.
“I have always said that after taking antidepressants I was never the same. Here I am 18 years later. I have little sex drive. I’m emotionally blunted. Not depressed but in a constant state of mono-tone emotion”
#PSSD
The real stigma around mental illness is that once you’ve been labeled with it you are expected to tolerate psychiatric ‘treatment’ In no other branch of medicine are people chemically castrated.
#PSSD
PSSD is beyond humiliating. Nobody wants to be on the Internet talking about their genitals being numb. I think that’s part of how they’ve been able to get away with doing this to people for so long.
Let’s never forget that PSSD is a man-made condition. It’s an unnatural state. Until the invention of SSRIs 30 years ago no one was forced to endure this chemically induced emptiness, removal of one’s soul, genital numbness and inability to find pleasure. 1/2
PSA: Don’t take SSRIs.
They can leave you with numb genitals and a completely fried reward system after a short exposure to the drug. People are dying from drugs promoted as life-saving. The response from the medical system? *silence*
#PSSD
#psychiatry
#PSSD
has zapped all of my coping mechanisms. Listening to music? Getting lost in a book? Daydreaming? Nah. Forget about it. All that’s left is 24/7 numb agony.
I train every day. I eat well. Over the past 4 years I’ve tried too many supplements to mention yet I feel nothing. I can’t enjoy music or sex. I look at family and friends without an ounce of affection. Everything is dulled.
#PSSD
is the stuff of nightmares.
#PSSD
is the ultimate failure. I went through so much stuff from bullying to an alcoholic parent and somehow survived only to be chemically castrated and left with total anhedonia by a glorified drug dealer.
No one has the right to tell
#PSSD
sufferers that we are overly pessimistic or should just accept this injury and move on. Move on to what? A life being asexual and devoid of any human emotion? Research into a treatment is desperately needed.
Another case of Schrödinger’s
#PSSD
If a psychiatrist hasn’t seen it - because he routinely gaslights his patients and blames treatment emergent sexual dysfunction on depression - is it even real?
Sometimes I like to watch 90s shows because they remind me of a time when I was still blissfully unaware of psychiatry. Better days. The world didn’t seem quite so dystopian.
Without a functioning reward system and with no fight or flight response making decisions has become damn near impossible for me. I’m completely paralyzed. PSSD effects every facet of one’s life.
#PSSD
Chemically castrating people is fine but when they talk about it on social media now that’s violence against psychiatrists. Got it. Their true colors are showing. If she’s aware of
#PSSD
she should be the one trying to raise awareness.
Chemically castrating ppl with prescription pills is beyond words. There should be an outcry about
#PSSD
from medical professionals/psychologists. The fact that sufferers are left to raise awareness on social media is an indictment of the entire field.
I’ve never felt this isolated in my life. I look at other people and I know I will never be like them again. I don’t want to exist as this castrated paper cut-out pretending to be a person anymore.
#PSSD
Emotional blunting and sexual dysfunction from SSRIs can destroy relationships.
#PSSD
“He has completely lost his cute funny personality and has turned into a robot. He’s no longer affectionate and started turning down my sexual advances.”
In 2020 I had never experienced suicidal ideation before. After my first dose of Mirtazapine I went on a walk the next morning feeling both completely numb and severely agitated at the same time. All I could think of was ending my life. 1/2
a psychiatrist gets
#PSSD
himself
It is sth that happens to a lot of people, it’s a pity that we (medical professionals) ignore it. Even if it’s a one in a million occurrence we have a responsibility to inform that it can happen.
When I broke a rib - a minor issue that heals in 6 weeks - I got well-wishes and texts asking if I was okay. When I tried to talk with people about PSSD - something that has devastated my life and has no known treatment - I got blank stares and they would change the subject. 1/2
I refused at the time but it makes me wanna throw up when I think about how I was 14 years old the first time someone tried to put me on an SSRI. The reason? I was bullied at school.
#PSSD
What does it mean to be fully conscious but have your ability to feel removed? I’m alive but I certainly haven’t been living since I took Mirtazapine 4 years ago.
#PSSD
I didn’t think it was possible to remove everything that makes you feel human while still keeping the person physically alive.
Then I took an antidepressant.
#PSSD
There’s been documented cases of PSSD for decades. They know. They are also aware that most patients would decline SSRIs if they were informed of the risks. That’s the reality of psychiatry.
The cognitive dysfunction I got from
#PSSD
is frankly incredibly embarrassing. Sometimes I need several seconds just to process what sb is saying to me before I can respond. It’s as though my brain is “lagging”
Not much reason to celebrate on
#ValentinesDay
for the thousands of people whose sexuality and capacity to connect with others has been removed by an SSRI.
#PSSD
shuts the door to a normal life and you are not getting back in.
Whether I make an effort to keep up with hobbies/friends or just lie in bed there’s nothing but all encompassing emotional numbness. What’s even the point of being alive with PSSD?
#PSSD
Psychiatric drugs can kill people, cause dependence or lead to long term neurological damage such as PSSD. They can permanently strip people of their sexuality. Patients deserve to know that BEFORE taking them. 2/2
@Altostrata
@DrMcFillin
Especially when its very simple to understand that —> Person Get PSSD —> Can no longer date —> Cannot have family —> Increased loneliness and isolation —> see other people engage and do those things —> Despair some more —> choose to withdraw from life.
@DrMcFillin
I asked I psychologist I went to if she would take an antidepressant herself. There was a moment of dead silence before she admitted she wouldn’t. She still tried to get me on them repeatedly.
It’s become increasingly hard for me to be around people since getting
#PSSD
I have no drive to talk to anyone because there’s no genuine connection. It’s alienating and a chore. I’ll be a hermit I guess.
I would have never taken Mirtazapine if I’d known there was even a one in a million chance of losing my sexuality forever. Anxiety could never justify THAT risk.
#PSSD
4 years with
#PSSD
feel like a lifetime. Sometimes I barely remember who I was before all of this. There’s no past. No future. It’s so much more than a side effect. Losing your ability to feel will destroy a person.
I’m grateful for the life I had before taking Mirtazapine in 2020. Those Memories are all that’s left. The present is an empty void. And with PSSD there’s no future. I can’t imagine what it must be like for people who got it in their teens or even childhood.
Psychiatrists know just what a scandal it is to chemically castrate young healthy ppl and that many will choose against SSRIs once the public becomes aware of
#PSSD
. That’s why advocates get attacked so much.
They won’t be able to make this away though.
@DrPinyaPlomer
I had a panic attack at the gym and ended up with permanently numb genitals and total anhedonia from a psychiatric drug. Psychiatry certainly didn’t save my life.
I’m currently dealing with an injury and having to interact with the medical system in any shape or form is so difficult for me after getting PSSD. A doctor’s office is the last place on earth I wanna be.
Iatrogenic harm is invisible. The fact that PSSD is a sexual issue and most of us have at some point been hit with a psych diagnosis adds to the stigma. People should be outraged on our behalf instead PSSD suffers are left with no support. 2/2
Bonus edition: the side effects could persist indefinitely after stopping the drug but we won’t tell you about that as it will likely affect your willingness to take those drugs.
@JourneyofHope4U
So you can end up traumatized for life and with permanent physical harm like
#PSSD
turning the short term crisis into a life long disability? How about reach out to family or friends and stay away from “professionals” under any and all circumstances?
Today is another day of being held hostage in a life that I can’t derive a single thing from that most would define as being human.
#PSSD
sufferers should have access to assisted dying. If doctors see nothing wrong with murdering ppl they can finish the job.
Today the psychiatrist who prescribed me Mirtazapine after a 5 minute appointment barely looking at me gets to enjoy his life with his family while I have to live with the scars he left on my body and brain for the rest of mine.
#PSSD
For the psychiatrists trying to blame sexual dysfunction on underlying depression. How come it effects healthy volunteers just as much? Genital anesthesia caused by SSRIs is also distinctly different from just low libido.
”In company healthy volunteer trials of SSRIs most volunteers complained bitterly of sexual dysfunction. In later clinical trials, doctors were told not to ask about sex. This left companies able to claim SD affected less than 5% of people.”
@RxISK
I wish there was a way to make ppl that say ignorant things about
#PSSD
like “there’s more to life than sex” exist in my body for a week. They’d change their minds real fast after realizing what it’s like to feel NOTHING.
I’m stuck in limbo with PSSD. Do I run some more questionable drug experiments on myself? Hope for a treatment that would be years away? Just admit that this isn’t going to get better and put an end to it? I just don’t know anymore.
My heart breaks for all the little girls that will have their lives stolen by psychiatric medication. Women and girls are prescribed SSRIs at more than twice the rate of males. Another form of gendered violence?
My self esteem wasn’t the greatest to begin with but getting
#PSSD
has obliterated what was left of it. Kind of hard to feel good about yourself after getting chemically castrated.
I was not able to truly grieve for my mom 2 year ago. Made me feel like a monster not being able to cry. Like I betrayed her and everything she’d done for me. There are no words for what
#PSSD
does to people.
Since PSSD I’ve been to multiple funerals. You stand there with no emotions, regardless of who it is being buried, whilst everyone’s crying. Not because you’re a bad person, but because your emotions no longer exist. It’s like watching paint dry.
“Side effects” imply something that will go away once the medication is stopped. Numb genitals and complete anhedonia for the rest of your life is a different story.
"All meds have side effects"
Yes that's true, but when normal people hear 'side effects', they think of things like headaches, nausea or upset stomach.
Who in their right mind would consider permanent castration a side effect? Let alone an acceptable outcome of any medication?
Forced treatment is never justified under any circumstances. Bad enough people are prescribed psychiatric drugs without informed consent. It’s just unimaginable to have sth that can permanently destroy sexual function FORCED on a person.
#PSSD
PSSD truly takes everything from you even platonic relationships. Emotional blunting makes me avoid socializing as much as I can. I don’t get anything from it and faking emotions is tedious.
#PSSD
After her disgusting comments in the NYT another paper by Anita Clayton trying to blame sexual dysfunction caused by SSRIs on depression. And this person is supposed to head a conference on PSSD? Care to comment?
@ISSM_INFO
If the mental health field was ethical at all they would call for research into
#PSSD
not double down on gaslighting patients or tell us we are collateral damage for those supposedly helped by those drugs. The response is extremely telling.
I get hit on at the gym a lot and each time is just a painful reminder that I’ll probably be alone for the rest of my life because I got chemically castrated without my consent.
#PSSD
Such a great article
“There’s a growing network of people out there screaming that they’ve been shut down, unplugged, dulled, their soul vacuumed out, that they feel completely asexual, and nobody is listening.”
Gen Z is often described as a sexless generation. Many cultural and social influences could explain this. But I think there is also a medical explanation. More specifically: the widespread use of SSRIs and their sexual side-effects.
My latest for GIRLS:
@emmyzen
I was on an antidepressant for only 3 weeks. 4 years later the sexual dysfunction function and emotional blunting are still enduring. Absolutely life destroying!
@Riggwelter_PSSD
I was 30 at the time working as a personal trainer. 3 weeks of Mirtazapine left me completely unable to function to the point I had to move back in with my parents for a full year.
One thing that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough is how absolutely devastating sexual dysfunction is to a person’s self esteem. Taking SSRIs can just about ruin every part of your life.
#PSSD
I was coerced into taking an antidepressant by my therapist who was inappropriate towards me and told me I would kill myself - although I’d never experienced suicidal ideation in my life - if I don’t agree to medication. I ended up with
#PSSD
Many people I have met with were pushed to antidepressants or psychiatric drugs by their therapist?
Why would that be? Why would a therapist who has little understanding of the drugs, their mechanisms, their harms push a drug with such potential for harm. Because they have been
@DrEvans_Health
Imagine being assaulted by someone so badly that it ruined your life, and then having someone try to get you to acknowledge how lovely that person is to other people
#PSSD
makes you fundamentally incompatible with life. Killing sb would be merciful compared to leaving them stuck in this impenetrable void with no way out. But hey it’s just a rare side effect. We wouldn’t want ppl to be scared of taking SSRIs.
The biggest irony is to demand proof for something while no one is willing to fund research. All we have is the accounts of harmed patients (dating back decades) but of course our voices don’t count to psychiatrists.
Psychiatrists
A) Have never seen any of their patients having had PSSD
B) When they come across PSSD patients in Twitter they deny their experience
C) They ask for scientific proof while having ignored all scientific research on PSSD since 2006.
@Evie_Magazine
There’s nothing sexy about having your sexuality permanently stripped from you as a teenager. I doubt those girls are informed about life altering side effects from those medications.
"You can't consent to lose something you haven't developed yet."
Yassie Pirani discusses the "soul wound" that is
#PSSD
with
@wdpsychiatry
. Children are prescribed antidepressant medication, that can permanently alter their sexuality.
Full interview:
@Codie_Sanchez
I took an antidepressant for 3 weeks. Developed sexual dysfunction immediately. 4 years off the drug my sexuality has not returned. Those pills are the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.
I can’t stand being around people anymore. It’s just a constant reminder that I will never be fully human like them again. And it’s exhausting to pretend. I think I’m ready to cut all social ties for good.
#PSSD
We don’t have reliable data on prevalence yet but
#PSSD
is so devastating even 1 in a million people experiencing that nightmare is 1 too many. SSRIs should have never gotten market approval.
I used to think of myself as a critical thinker but in reality I had no idea…
If only I’d stumbled upon the prescribed harm community in 2020 so I wouldn’t have let my therapist coerce me into taking Mirtazapine. Now I have PSSD.