Sex has never
been easier than it is today. In our modern age sex has never been more free,
more encouraged, never have more varieties of sex been more tolerated and
openly discussed and pictured, as least not since Sodom or Pompeii. And yet
people are having less sex, in fact some are calling this a sex recession, because
of how many people are not having sex or are having little sex:
“The
sex recession, also known as the sexual recession, refers to a decline in
sexual activity among adults, particularly among young adults. This phenomenon
has been observed in various studies and research papers, and its causes and
implications are still being debated.
Several
studies have investigated the sex recession, including a 2021 study in the
Journal of Sex and a 2019 study published by The Atlantic that found young
adults in the United States are having less sex than previous generations. This
trend has been observed in various countries, including Australia, Japan,
France, and the United Kingdom.”[1]
This might
sound strange to you, especially if you are a little older now. If you came
into adolescence in the 90’s and early 2000’s you will remember how many
comedies there were at the time in the cinemas that presented sex as the
ultimate goal of the young men or women. Movies like American Pie, Road
Trip, Van Wilder Party Liaison, and more were constantly pushing a
hypersexualized message. There was a constant stream of these kinds of movies.
I am not suggesting you watch them, in fact I would recommend you do not. But
the transition from a culture that appeared sex obsessed into a culture that is
shunning sex in increasing numbers is an interesting one. Those kinds of comedies
would never reach mass appeal in our day and age, and yet society is supposed
to be more sexually free…right…?
A lot of
research focuses around how younger people are having less sex,
“Increased
rates of sexlessness have been documented around the world, among all age
cohorts, regardless of marital status. But what’s most astounding is that this
trend is particularly pronounced among younger generations, including
millennials (born from 1980 to 1994) and Gen Z (born from 1995 to 2012), with
roughly one in three men and one in five women saying they haven’t had sex in
the past year.”[2]
However, if
you pay attention you will see that this trend is being observed in all age
cohorts, no matter their marital status, and this is what I want to hone in on
in this piece. However, why we are looking at how this trend is effecting young
adults will become more obvious as you read through. Marital status should be
associated with increased sexual activity, not a massive decrease, however a
lot of data, and anecdotal evidence suggest that sexless marriages are becoming
a plague in our society right now, and men and women are crying out.
One element
that a lot of people may not be aware that is negatively affecting their sex
life is antidepressants,
“Interventions
that have the capacity to modify our biology, mating psychology, and mental
health are driving these trends. For example, two common types of
pharmaceutical drugs — selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, a class
of antidepressants) and the birth control pill — are known to decrease libido
as a side effect.
Although
these interventions have the potential to aid many, we must ask what their
influence has been on young people. Many begin their usage in childhood, and
this has the potential to affect them profoundly.
More
than a third of Gen Z report taking prescription medication for a mental health
condition. If an individual is uncomfortable in social situations or when
required to have face-to-face interactions, they will be less inclined to want
to meet new people in the context of dating. Sexual intimacy requires being
comfortable in your body, being present in your head, and being willing to put
yourself in a position of possibly being judged or rejected by someone else.”[3]
We should add
here that it should also include only being done in the context of marriage
between a man and woman.
There are
many reasons to be concerned about the amount of young people on medication for
mental health conditions. But one that is becoming increasingly recognized is
how these medications can be detrimental to sexual development and function
well into adulthood.
“We
know little, however, about the long-term effects of SSRIs on adolescents’
sexual development. This is concerning, considering SSRIs have been approved
for use in children as young as 6-years-old, and nearly 4% of children and
adolescents aged 3 to 17 in the United States take them.
One
recent study using a rodent model showed that exposure to an SSRI was
associated with changes to a part of the brain that is involved in emotion
regulation and stress management.
There
are also data emerging about a condition called post-SSRI sexual dysfunction,
which describes sexual side effects from SSRIs (and serotonin and
norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) that persist after a person has ceased
taking the medication. This can include a loss of sexual desire and arousal,
numbness in one’s sexual anatomy, and sexual dysfunction, including erectile
dysfunction and difficulty reaching orgasm.
In
some cases, individuals who began these medications during their teenage years
report a blunting of emotions and an inability to feel crushes, foreclosing
their desire in adulthood to be sexually active.”
It should be
noted that these reflections are written by Dr Debrah Soh, who “is a sex
neuroscientist and the author of “Sextinction: The Decline of Sex and the
Future of Intimacy.”[4] These are well informed
points of data that we should take seriously, because this is affecting society
in incredibly deleterious ways.
I want you to
consider the fact that in our society many young people are prescribed drugs
which are known to suppress sexual development and function. Now, it is
inappropriate for young people to be engaging in sexual behaviour, so you might
ask what is the big deal? The big deal is that these young people come into
adulthood and their neural pathways and their behaviour have been detrimentally
affected by these drugs already. This is not theoretical, the decline in sexual
activity is being observed and documented across age groups. This does not just
happen if people are prescribed these drugs from a young age, this effect can
happen at any age.
But here is
the reason why we have begun this discussion off with this point: if you think
the problem is bad now, just wait, because it is going to get worse. Much
worse. These drugs can affect sexual ability at any age, but we are now raising
increasing numbers of young adults who come into the age where they should be
thinking about marriage, and they have been chemically castrated, or severely damaged,
before they can even begin to start forming serious relationships.
You will be
surprised, and I hope a little horrified, at just how common sexual disfunction
is from anti-depressants,
“Sexual
side effects from psychiatric drugs, especially SSRIs, SNRIs, and
antipsychotics, are not “rare” inconveniences. They’re well-documented, common,
and in many cases, long-lasting.
Research
shows:
- SSRIs cause sexual dysfunction in
50–70% of users (we bet even more) (Montejo et al., 2001; Serretti & Chiesa,
2009).
- Effects include loss of desire,
arousal difficulties, genital numbness, and inability to orgasm and a
basic loss of disconnection.
- Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction
(PSSD)—a
condition where sexual function never fully returns even
after stopping the medication has been documented in peer-reviewed
journals and acknowledged by the European Medicines Agency (EMA, 2019).
Yet
despite this, patients’ concerns are routinely minimized or dismissed.”[5]
50-70% of
users!! Think about that. 50-70% of users. I am becoming increasingly aware of
a plague of sexless marriages in our society. There could be many contributing
causes for this. For instance, regular porn use is known to decrease libido and
effect sexual function. Relational issues are also known to decrease libido.
Work-life balance is also a contributing factor, so too is the fact that both
men and women work so much today that many couples have little time for
connection and are often too tired for physical connection. But another
underlying problem that many people are not aware of is that their spouse might
not be interested in sex, because their sexual organs have been numbed or
damaged by antidepressants.
And in some
cases this function NEVER FULLY RETURNS!!
The European
Medicines Agency notes about Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction:
“This
study is specifically addressed to post-SSRI sexual dysfunctions. There is
scarce literature on the case definition of post-SSRI sexual dysfunction.
Available literature1,2 clarifies that PSSD, while nominally referring to
SSRIs, applies to antidepressants in general. PSSD is, thus, a misnomer and
better defined as post-antidepressant sexual dysfunctions.
PSSD
is classified as sexual dysfunction disorders, which manifest days or weeks
after beginning antidepressants and persist after discontinuation. The sexual
dysfunction disorders that make up PSSD in the literature seem to be selected
based on frequency of occurrence.
These
signs and symptoms are: genital hypoaesthesia, loss of libido, libido
decreased, female sexual arousal disorder, anorgasmia, female orgasmic
disorder, male orgasmic disorder, orgasm abnormal, orgasmic sensation
decreased, premature ejaculation, ejaculation delayed, ejaculation failure,
vulvovaginal dryness, nipple hypoaesthesia , nipple hypoesthesia.”[6]
Among the
most common reported sexual dysfunction side effects reported are,
“Within
the narrow definition, the most frequently reported reaction PTs are ‘libido
decreased’ (716), ‘loss of libido’ (378) and ‘anorgasmia’ (296). Within the
extended definition, ‘erectile dysfunction’ (691), ‘sexual dysfunction’ (599)
and ‘priapism’ (231) account for the highest numbers of reports.”[7]
The cases of
these side effects being reported are increasing.[8] But it should be noted
that the numbers are vastly unreported, because people are loath to discuss
such things with other people.
The study
notes that that they cannot conclusively determine whether these ongoing cases
were from the medications or the fact that these people were not healed from
their depression.[9]
When you consider that sexual dysfunction is itself a reason why somebody would
become depressed or that would increase someone’s depression, and the fact that
these drugs are not guaranteed to work anyway, and that they do have known side
effects of sexual dysfunction, then it is incredibly irresponsible that people
are put in this position.
One of the
symptoms here, anorgasmia, is particularly disturbing to contemplate,
“Anorgasmia
is delayed, infrequent or absent orgasms — or significantly less-intense
orgasms — after sexual arousal and adequate sexual stimulation. Women who have
problems with orgasms and who feel significant distress about those problems
may be diagnosed with anorgasmia.”[10]
Erectile
dysfunction for a man, or the inability to have an orgasm is incredibly
distressing. However, if he is able to go a long time without orgasm this might
not be seen as distressing by many. But for the woman this will bring a lot of
anxiety alongside a general and growing disinterest in sex. When you consider
that anorgasmia can be so extreme that neither a man or woman can orgasm, you
can imagine the distress this causes.
This dysfunction
can have varied root causes. There could be physical reasons, psychological
reasons, situational reasons, or health reasons. But among the causes is
antidepressants, as we have noted, but this should be reiterated, “Medicines.
Many prescription and nonprescription medications can inhibit orgasm, including
blood pressure medicines, antipsychotic medicines, antihistamines and
antidepressants — particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).”[11]
This
anorgasmia can be accompanied by other related sexual problems, “These may
contribute to or complicate the problem with having orgasms. These conditions
include:
- Problems with sexual arousal.
- Little or no desire for sex.
- Pain from sexual intercourse or
other sexual stimulation.
- Dryness of the vagina or vulva.
- Involuntary tightening of the
vagina, called vaginismus.”[12]
Even though
this condition can have many causes, one cause that many people just would not
expect is the medicine given to them by their doctors to help them relieve
stress, anxiety, or depression. In fact, it is intuitive, but also documented,
that this sexual dysfunction can have a compounding effect on someone who is
depressed already, “A 2010 meta-analysis (Atlantis & Sullivan) found that
sexual dysfunction can worsen depression, not improve it.”[13]
As Dr Teralyn
also notes “sexual satisfaction is a predictor of relational stability” and
this is really intuitive as well. Is it not? If you take a marriage that is
facing struggles because the wife is depressed, and rather than working on the
root causes of what has brought on that depression, you instead throw in
medication that is going to very possibly hamper the ability for the husband or
wife, or both, to function normally in sex, you are guaranteed to cause issues.
And while sex
is front and centre in this situation, it can go far beyond that. The lessening
of a desire for sex, can simply be a lessening in desire for anything. As one
woman has noted, a user of SSRIs has cried out, “Now I just look at him and I
feel blank, like I can’t be bothered to speak to him.’ She wouldn’t be the
first woman to fall out of love. And yet, clouding her judgement over her
feelings for a man she was once ‘obsessed with’ is that she doesn’t feel anything
at all.”[14] In fact, many users of
this medication report that relationships do suffer as a result of their taking
it.[15] In line with what is
mentioned above about Women’s Health notes that “40% and 60% of those on
antidepressants have experienced some form of sexual dysfunction, with women
more likely to struggle.”[16] Many describe this
process of going numb to those they love and much else in their lives. And we
call this healing? It is more like a form of lobotomy.
Men, maybe
you are not a good enough lover, it is known that some men are in this
category. But if you went from a very passionate love life with your wife, to
the fact that she is no longer interested, there is a strong possibility that
if she is taking this sort of medication it is to blame. As another woman
notes,
“’When
I first went on citalopram, I felt numbness down there and had a really reduced
libido,’ she recalls. At the time, she wasn’t in a relationship and the
symptoms didn’t trouble her too much. It was meeting her partner that made the
‘numbness’ – both physical and emotional - feel unnavigable. ‘He was supportive
and told me he would rather I was on meds and functioning than not on them. But
eventually, the lack of sex caused our relationship to fizzle.’”
Men has this
happened in your marriage? Women has this happened to you or your husband?
Part of the
reason that SSRIs have this effect is because they blunt the pleasure reward
functions in your brain, as well as lessening emotional pain.[17] They literally numb your
mind. Patients “become less sensitive to rewards”[18] as a result. This might
be sex, or some other kind of activity that brings you joy or pleasure. They dull
your brains ability to find pleasure in pleasurable things. And these things
have a known track record of destroying relationships and marriages,
“Across
the forums in which SSRIs’ relational symptoms are dissected, posters range
from those who watched their spouses and partners change after going on
medication, to those who were prescribed SSRIs and found their relationships
flipped from passionate to viewing their partners as roommates or friends. But
there are also stories like Harriet’s; women who link taking an SSRI with
acting in ways they felt were out of character, including chasing new sexual
experiences such as one-night stands or affairs and feeling ‘alien’ in their
homes.”[19]
Doctors are
prescribing drugs to women that can make them indifferent to their partners but
excited about the guy at the bar. I suspect the reason this is happens is
simply because when you are numb you need heightened stimulation to activate
your pleasure circuits. But it should be noted they are not sure exactly why
this happens.[20]
Needing heightened stimuli is known side effect of other kinds of drugs,
thought.
For some
women, the sacrifice is worth it,
“Less
likely to end up on the forums are stories like Julia’s. Just before her son’s
first birthday, the 39-year-old midwife from Edinburgh called her GP in tears.
‘I remember telling her that I couldn’t laugh at my husband’s jokes any more,
or follow what he was saying,’ she recalls, of a challenging period during one
of the lockdowns. Her GP prescribed sertraline, which she’s been taking ever
since. ‘My son is now six years old and I can truly say [the medication] gave
me my old self back. In terms of my relationship with my husband, who I’ve been
with for a decade, I’m so much easier going. He spends a lot less time
reassuring me about my anxieties and I can laugh at his jokes again.’ The
relational impact hasn’t been wholly positive; the medication has ‘completely
wiped’ her sex drive. ‘But I still enjoy sex when it happens. And even if I’d
have known the impact it would have on my sex life, I’d make the same choice
again.’”[21]
Of course,
has anyone stopped to wonder if maybe the reason so many people were willing to
tolerate things like lockdowns was because they could use prescribed drugs to just
numb how they really felt about one of the greatest psychological operations in
history? Men are you ok with the sexual side of your marriage being largely
written off so that your wife can numb her mind to the stresses of being a
wife, mother, nurse and more all in the middle of an extreme time like the
lockdowns we went through? Has anyone stopped to ask if so many women are
depressed because modern society expects them to be fulltime workers, mums, wives,
girlfriends, etc, etc.?
As you can
see the evidence that antidepressants are causing a plague of sexless marriages
is massive. In fact, A Midwestern Doctor notes something we should all pay
attention to,
“SSRI
antidepressants are one of the most harmful medications on the market, and
because of just how many people they are given to (often for no good reason as
only a minority of patients benefit from SSRIs) they have had a profound effect
on the consciousness of our entire society.”[22]
To illustrate
this in vivid picture form, look at this account,
“He
took a moderate dose, a 10 milligram pill, and an hour later, he said, “I had
numb genitals.” He abandoned the drug almost right away and has taken no
psychiatric medication since. “Three years later,” he explained, his penis
“feels like my elbow — if you touch my elbow, it’s that same kind of
sensation.” And there is emotional numbness to go with the physical. “I can’t
feel any connection to you guys — I feel like my soul was ripped out of my
body.” He has tried to get doctors to pay attention. “They were like: That’s
impossible. It’s all in your head.”[23]
What are we
doing to people? How much carnage has been wrought by these evil medications?
And I mean evil. I learnt in my Jeremiah exegesis class all the way back in my
early bible college years, that in Hebrew the base definition of evil is that
which harms human flourishing. Are these drugs not doing this, and in spades?
And to bring
us back to the start of the article where we noted that kids are being raised
on these things,
“Only
over the past few years has Ruth learned, from her daughter, about the sexual
side effects she still lives with and about her grief. “Her erogenous zones
don’t work,” “I have huge, terrible regret” about allowing her child to be
medicated. “I can’t believe I so easily said yes.”[24]
I make no
bones about saying that I see an evil plot in action here. From very young ages
people are being raised in a society that sees the numbing of their brain, and
therefore the artificial warping of their neural pathways, as a normal and
recommended thing to do. I see it as the neurological version of binding feet.
If you think that is too extreme, consider not being able to have a girlfriend,
wife, boyfriend, husband or family, because you were given these things either
at a young age, or when you were already an adult and you were among those who
faced the most severe side effects. And I have not even gotten into the other
problems these sorts of meds can cause.
Are
antidepressants causing sexless marriages? Unquestionably. “Sexual dysfunction
is common in remitted female depression patients on SSRI treatment, which may
further impair their marital satisfaction and QOL. Hence, routine screening for
sexual dysfunction is necessary for them.”[25]
Are they the
only thing causing this? No. There are of course other factors. Even in cases
where antidepressants are having this impact, there could have been other
causes to begin with, and the drugs may have just exacerbated the situation.
Depression is a complicated thing. It can have physical causes, but it is far
more likely to be environmental. A woman whose husband is making her depressed
might not care about having sex with him anyway. So don’t oversimplify this as
a single cause issue, as it is not. However, these drugs are creating eunuchs.
And I believe this is intentional. Not necessarily in the mind of every doctor,
that is almost certainly not the case. But in the broader context of an misanthropic
society with population agendas, anything that causes impotence or low libido
should be viewed suspiciously.
I guess getting
rid of the original Hippocratic oath about doing no harm was more
consequential than people want to admit.
List of
References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_recession
[2] Debrah
Soh, 2026, https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-sex-recession-hitting-gen-z-and-whats-quietly-killing-their-drive
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[6] European
Medicines Agency, 2019, Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other antidepressants and persistent sexual
dysfunction https://catalogues.ema.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document_files/Antidepressants%20and%20PSSD%20-%20EV%20analysis%20-%20report%20-%2020190220.pdf
p6.
[7]
Ibid. p11.
[8]
Ibid. p12
[9]
Ibid, p16.
[10] Mayo
Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anorgasmia/symptoms-causes/syc-20369422
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Dr
Teralyn, 2025, https://drteralyn.com/how-ssris-and-other-psychiatric-medications-secretly-damage-your-relationship/
[14]
Catriona Innes, Inside the SSRI Marriages, Women’s Health (available
through apple news).
[15]
Ibid.
[16]
Ibid.
[17]
Ibid.
[18]
Ibid.
[19]
Ibid.
[20]
Ibid.
[21]
Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24]
Ibid.
[25]Sravanthi
Penubarthi et. al. 2022, National Library of Medicine, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9460025/
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