Latest: Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian government’s medicines regulator, added a warning regarding persistent sexual dysfunction following SSRI use, May 23rd 2024.

PSSD was recognized by the European Medicines Agency in June 2019. Since then there has been official acknowledgement in the British Medical Journal and a public warning by the Irish government.

In November 2018, a petition was sent to Health Canada officials to investigate PSSD. Health Canada responded by putting SSRI and SNRI medications under review. The results of the review were posted in January 2021. While the review stated it was not able to confirm a causal link between SSRIs + SNRIs and persistent sexual function due to the lack of studies designed to asses this, Health Canada has committed to working with manufacturers to update product safety information for SSRIs and SNRIs and will recommend healthcare professionals inform patients of the potential risk of long-term sexual dysfunction following antidepressant treatment. Given the current lack of data on PSSD, this is a positive outcome.

Hong Kong Department of Health issued an alert to physicians in January 2021 drawing their attention to potential persistent sexual dysfunction after treatment with SSRIs and SNRIs.

International momentum is building to bring awareness to PSSD and research causes and potential treatments. Patient groups such as our own have been formed in Germany, Italy, the USA and the UK.