Antidepressants, cognition, and emotional blunting: what’s the evidence?

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Angharad de Cates reviews a recent Danish trial, which finds that escitalopram reduced participants’ reinforcement sensitivity compared to those on placebo. This lower reinforcement sensitivity may be similar to the emotional blunting effect often reported by patients during SSRI treatment.

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The benefits and harms of antidepressants for youth depression and anxiety #ActiveIngredientsMH

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Mark Horowitz and Joanna Moncrieff consider a new #ActiveIngredientsMH review published today in The Lancet Psychiatry, which looks at the knowns and unknowns of antidepressant treatment in young people with depression and anxiety: efficacy, predictors, and mechanisms of action.

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Sex and schizophrenia: what determines sexual interest and confidence?

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In her debut blog, Beccy White summarises a secondary analysis which explored predictors of sexual interest amongst older adults with schizophrenia.

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Sexual function matters to people living with serious mental illness

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Rudiger Pittrof and Elana Covshoff from SHRINE (Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, Inclusion and Empowerment) explore a recent review, which looks at the impact of severe mental disorders and psychotropic medications on sexual health and its implications for clinical management.

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Little differences among antidepressants regarding sexual dysfunction, but bupropion performs best

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Antidepressant treatment is associated with a variety of side effects, including emotional changes, weight gain or fatigue. As pharmaceutical treatment has evolved, clinicians have become increasingly aware of another major adverse effect of modern antidepressants: sexual dysfunction. Current figures estimate that up to every second patient will, at some stage, experience reduced sexual function, which [read the full story…]

New Cochrane review provides strategies for managing sexual dysfunction brought on by antidepressants

Sexual dysfunction

One of the major complaints of people on antidepressant medication is the effect it has on their sex lives. It does this in three main ways – it affects sexual desire, the ability to achieve and sustain an erection in men and alters the sensation of orgasms and ejaculation. These side effects are one of [read the full story…]