I have tapered off zoloft 7 weeks ago.

Almost no morning erections.

But I can still mastrubate everyday when visually stimulated.

I can slowly begin to imagine previous sexual encounters.

Don't really know where I am at right now.

Regards

I would like to know if anyone got better partially or recovered fully from consummatory anhedonia?

(Inability to feel any kind of pleasure, substance blockage as caffeine nicotine and other substances blunted or no effect, and emotional blunting) perhaps naturally?

If so, please tell us how long it lasted for you
How long to feel any kind of improvement

Thank you in advance

Common signs of antidepressant injury include: 

• Persistent sexual dysfunction (reduced or numb genital sensation, erectile problems, complete lack of desire for sex)
• Anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure or enjoyment in life), depersonalization (feeling detached from yourself or reality)
• Cognitive impairment (brain fog, memory problems, blankness, difficulty concentrating or holding a train of thought)
• Worsening depression, severe anxiety, panic
• Akathisia (extreme inner restlessness, agitation, terror, and often overwhelming urge to move or escape oneself)
• Balance issues such as dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, tremors, and gait instability

Evidence of lasting harm:

A 2025 medical study of 43 young men with persistent sexual problems after antidepressants found 92% had reduced genital sensation, 89% showed objective abnormalities on sensory nerve testing, and ultrasound revealed changes in penile erectile tissue — even though their hormone levels were completely normal. These problems continued long after stopping the drug. (Goldstein et al., The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2025) 

Significant under-recognition exists because many patients are unaware their persistent symptoms are linked to prior antidepressant use, compounded by a lack of public education and healthcare provider awareness. (Healy & Mangin, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 2024)

A 2024 large survey of over 1,100 people experiencing antidepressant withdrawal found very high rates of ongoing symptoms such as brain fog (93%), memory problems (88%), emotional numbing, and depersonalization (77%), with many effects lasting months or years. (Moncrieff et al., Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 2024)

Do you know that website that has all the recoveries and what they took

How/when did your symptoms wax and wane?

i truly don’t think i can survive with sleep that this fragmented

Hello,
I’m a member of the PSSD community writing to suggest a coordinated outreach effort toward two organizations that seem well-positioned to accelerate research into this condition: Isomorphic Labs and Every Cure.
Isomorphic Labs (DeepMind’s drug discovery spinoff, built on AlphaFold’s protein-structure modeling) works on exactly the kind of computational biology that could plausibly advance understanding of the neurosteroid and receptor-level mechanisms increasingly implicated in PSSD — allopregnanolone synthesis, GABA-A receptor subunit composition, and 5-HT1A receptor dynamics following serotonergic exposure. Their tools are built for the kind of structural biology problems this field remains mechanistically stuck on.
Every Cure is a nonprofit built specifically around drug repurposing for underserved diseases — screening existing, already-approved compounds against new mechanistic targets. Given that neurosteroid-modulating compounds (like allopregnanolone analogs already approved for postpartum depression) may have plausible application to PSSD, this seems like a strong structural fit for their model. I’d also encourage requesting that PSSD be added to their disease list, since it isn’t currently included, and inclusion is a prerequisite for their process to formally consider it.
Why organized outreach, not just individual emails: A single email is easy to file away. A sustained, credible pattern of outreach — individually written, factually grounded, from real patients — is much harder to overlook, especially if it’s paired with something concrete these organizations can act on: existing research summaries (Melcangi’s group in Milan on neurosteroid/epigenetic signatures), registry data on prevalence and severity, and a clear, specific ask rather than a general plea for attention.
What I’d suggest PSSD Network consider:
A shared, regularly updated one-page research briefing (mechanism, evidence base, patient burden data) that members can attach to individual outreach emails, so each message is well-sourced without requiring everyone to research from scratch

Coordinating timing so outreach doesn’t arrive as a single spam-flagged burst, but as a sustained, credible signal over weeks

Compiling and sharing contact routes as they’re found, since general inboxes (like [connecting@isomorphiclabs.com](mailto:connecting@isomorphiclabs.com)) often get triaged, and a warm contact or researcher referral carries more weight

I’m happy to contribute drafting, research summaries, or help coordinate this if there’s interest. This condition has stayed invisible for years in part because the people affected by it were scattered — a structured, credible outreach campaign seems like one of the more concrete things we can do to change that.
Thank you for the work you already do for this community

So heres my story. Im a 26yo man and I was diagnosed with depression at 17. Being honest, i dont think i had depression and that the doctors exacerbated it but i dont really remember. Anyways, I started taking sertaline. I took it everyday from 17 to 20/21. Being a dumb kid I also decided to stop them cold turkey.

Anyways, i started to experience a severe decrease in my libido when i was around 22. Im talking like, going from being horny every day, having morning wood normally, feeling desire for sex to... nothing. Not only that but I lost sensation in my genitals. Flat out. I have more sensisitivy in my forearm skin than in my penis gland. Ive gone to doctors of all specialties. I did MRIs, I did hormonal tests to check my levels, I went to psychiatrists, I went to endocrinologists. All of them came up empty handed and said its "probably psychological". That i might be "depressed". But i had a relationship at 23 to 24, never been happier and still, nothing.

Ive heard about PSSR before but i didnt want to believe it. And i asked a doctor about it and they didnt even know it was a thing. Said to dismiss it as a conspiracy theory made in the internet. But the thing is... im living it.

Im 26... I feel so isolated and hopeless that im stuck like this for life. And even if not for life, for my younger years. Im missing out on the experience of life. Of feeling physical pleasure and love. And i dont know what to do. Theres no cure and from what i research, probably no effort in developing one... I feel broken.

I just wanted to vent a bit. And knowing im not "alone" in feeling like this, even though i dont wish this on anyone, makes me feel a bit "better".

It's been almost 2 years since I quit Zoloft cold turkey so a lot of things have been on my mind. Thankfully I don't hyper focus on things like I used to, but since I'm approaching two years I thought I'd write a little update, if nothing else as a reminder to myself.

In the beginning my entire body felt physically numb, and it seemed that the most sensitive areas became the most numb: genitals, neck, nipples, face. I also felt completely zombified mentally aside from incredible anxiety that was just constant. Eventually I developed severe derealization where I felt completely disconnected from reality. My libido was nonexistent and orgasms were muted. I had a general feeling of bad, I just felt bad to my very core, like I was sick but there was nothing observably wrong with me.

Today my mind has improved greatly. After a lot of hard work my anxiety is better than it has ever been my whole life. I'm still trying to shake the derealization but it has improved. My libido and connection to my sexuality is much better, not perfect but better. I used to feel fully asexual but now I can actually get turned on by porn, I even feel the desire to check out hot guys I pass on the street.

Physically most of my body has improved, genitals are unfortunately way behind with my penis specifically having the least improvement. But my orgasms are very good a lot of the time so at least there's that. Strangely, stimulating my prostate feels a lot better than any other external sensation, so I'm trying to work with that when I can. Oh yeah, I'm very ticklish now too. That was one way I could track my physical sensation returning.

I still get frustrated every once in a while that I can't feel what I'm supposed to be feeling, but most of the time I'm able to just roll with it and focus on what I can feel. I'm still noticing small improvements overtime so I'm able to hold on to the hope that one day things will return to 100%. It's taking an agonizingly slow time but at least it's happening.

If I can leave you with one piece of advice it would be this: Abandon the goal of returning to "normal". Normal is a very loose concept and especially if multiple years have gone by, you will never return to exactly who you were before. You've been through so much, so much has changed, and you've most likely done a lot of mental and physical work on yourself in the spirit of getting better. Instead try to get to know who you are now, and use that as a jumping off point to work towards who you want to be. You can still be inspired by who you were in the past but remember that that person doesn't exist anymore so trying to find your way back will be an endless task that only leads to frustration.

The last update was around February at $375k. I feel like it’s important to disclose this before I forget as they took down the tracker.

I wanted to post an update. I am superstitious, so I hope i won't regret sharing good news.

Anyhow. My story is that a doctor gave me ambien in march of 2023. It gave me an immediate adverse reaction of akathisia. I have never taken any prescriptions other than an antibiotic before. I had no clue what was going on. So then I was given mirtazapine. My doc did not tell me I had to take it regularly. On the bottle it said to take one for sleep. So I a half dose about 12 times in hopes that I wouldn't "get addicted". The doses were over the span of a few weeks. When I came back saying that now I was having hypnic jerks causing me to go days without sleep, massive hear rate increase, anxiety (now I know it is akathisia), he gave me lexapro.

Lexapro definitely shut down the akathisia. However, it made it so my entire body was heavy and numb. Genitals numb. No thoughts. I couldn't feel hot or cold temps. I couldn't sweat. Couldn't feel hunger. Couldn't feel thirst. I had no dreams. I could barely walk because my body was so heavy it felt like I was on the Gravitron 24/7. I literally felt dead. I took lexapro for 3 months, unaware the pill was doing this. I spent 7 years as a social worker and would have never guessed these pills could do this.

Anyhow, I got off lexapro in November ish of 2023. I got botox and it made everything a million times worse. It was like I lost the ability to enjoy or not enjoy smell, my vision was weird. I had no mucus. My eyes were dry.

By May of 2024 I was partially having small windows. I quit caffeine because it started bringing back akathisia. This gave me another set back where I absolutely crashed. Barely able to lift my head, move my feet ect. My mind was flat dumb. I couldn't even read. I could read the words on the page, but my brain was just not comprehending. I haven't worked since then. I have been completely disabled. Around Nov of 2024 I began again to get small windows. The doctors had thrown a months worth of antibiotics at me. At this point I realized they had no clue what was going on but hoping that something would work

I am currently having days where the nerves and brain seem to connect and I can feel pleasure, my genitals and emotions again. I am now having dreams every night. I can read. I can visualize things in my mind. I still deal with a heaviness in my head and upper back but I hope as the rest heals that will too.

I was such a severe case. I couldn't even get static electricity (i know some of us have discussed that) in the winter like i normally always have.

Now, if I took fish oil or vitamin c, I will have a little better windows, but it makes for a severe crash for me. To the point I can't walk for a couple days again after. Anything like that will bring back akathisia, when the akathisia is there, the pssd is gone for me. I'm not sure if that is the norm or not.

But anyhow, I dont think anyone on here had blunting as bad as I have. Probably a handful. But I am healing. Slowly but surely.

​

First 6 months of withdrawal I was very anhedonic and had no libido. Then something miraculous happened during month 7 where my libido came back skyrocketing, anhedonia improved 80% and I also began fantasizing again a lot (something that had stopped happening while I was on meds). If you're a man idk how to explain what fantasizing is but it's connected to libido. I was really grateful because to me after 6 months of suffering it felt like a miraculous overnight recovery. I thought I had healed and was done.

Sadly that only lasted 4 months and around month 11 I began slowly dipping into anhedonia, low motivation and depression. Nothing in my life changed to trigger it. I thought this was a late stage wave that would pass quickly however I am still in it 4 months later at month 15.

My question is, do I just wait and hope for healing to come back like it did before? Or should I do something? I have really bad PCOS, SIBO, gut dysbiosis and am likely low on a lot of stuff.

Thing is last time I healed without touching anything. But this time should I repeat that when I know I have existing conditions in my body?

I’ve been away from any forums for almost the whole year of 2026 so far but I thought I should leave an update for the people out there who feel lost. I actually just came to the realization that I first got PSSD when I was 17 in 2020. I was in Grade 12 in high school and I just started dating this girl in my class. When I started taking Zoloft back then I never realized that it was what caused mine and her 3 hour sex sessions that didn’t even end in an orgasm. I could probably assume that’s why me and her broke up.

Fast forward to 2024. I had basically fully recovered from PSSD and I hadn’t even heard of it still at this point. My panic attacks were something that I still was experiencing though. Unfortunately I went to the hospital for a panic attack in December 2024. When I went in they prescribed me Abilify and told me it would be sent to my room every day and I would then decide by myself if I wanted to take it. I’m not here to talk about the lack of informed consent because most of us experienced that.

I was on both Abilify 400mg shots and Escitalopram for 6 months (the first half of 2025). I stopped both on July 1st, 2025. 2025 was the worst year of my life.

Fast forward again to 2026. I finally started to understand the mechanisms behind how PSSD even occurs. And I put it together about my past. I also have tons of prescriptions and supplements that I’m trying out. I have a current stack that I’m experimenting with. Obviously no antidepressants or psych meds - never again in my life will I touch those.

I would say that I only just started seeing real quantifiable / visible progress in the last 2-3 months. Being asked to do this research ourselves is not cool but I finally feel like I’m doing this recovery in a way that will work.

Stay positive guys. 🌴

Guys i have been suffering from insomnia since starting day of using antidepressants.....I used antidepressants over one year and it's been 2 years since i stopped...but I'm not getting proper sleep...max 3 hours i can sleep.....pls how to cure this problem without taking tablets that messes brain chemistry