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Sunday, October 12, 2008

SSRIs to treat deviant sexual behavior

This is scary. I've just came across with this and I believe that if this use of SSRIs is not enough to convince that something very serious is happening I don't know what else is needed:

"In recent years SSRIs have been used to reduce sex offenders' deviant sexual thoughts and fantasies. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, plays a role in regulating sexual drive, depression, obsessions, compulsions, anxiety, impulsiveness and anger. SSRIs are antidepressants that are also approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and social anxiety. Although double-bind placebo controlled trials are needed, studies using self-report measures or PPG have found that these medications do reduce some repetitive sexually deviant fantasies and/or behavior (Greenberg& Bradford, 1997; Kafka, 1991, 1994; Kafka & Prentky, 1992, Stein et al, 1992), and to selectively decrease deviant arousal without significantly decreasing appropriate arousal (Bradford, Greenberg, Gojer Martindole & Goldberg, 1995; Kafka, 1992; Kafka & Prentky, 1994). Greenberg and Bradford (1997) have hypothesized that paraphilias may result when there is an inability to suppress conventional sexual appetites. Since serotonin affects sexual appetite, SSRIs may help alter a dysfunctional serotonergic system, thereby allowing suppression of unconventional sexual appetites."(emphasis mine)

"Furthermore SSRIs have been used in the treatment of PTSD. One study found that after a year of SSRI treatments, subjects with PTSD had a 5% increase in hippocampal volume and a 35% increase in memory function (Bremner, 2006)*. Together, these findings indicate a variety of reasons why SSRIs may be beneficial for offenders with multiple paraphilias." p. 547 (emphasis mine)
It's from this book:
Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment. edited by D. Richard Laws, William O'Donohue. New York, Guilford Publications, 1997.
A new edition fully revised was published in 2008.
This is the page from where I took the paragraph.
I had already thought reading on a fiction story, a movie or a novel, about using SSRIs to suppress arousal, women giving Paxil/Seroxat to their husbands and many other ways humankind can use this side effect.
But I never thought about this medical use.
I've stressed "
deviant sexual thoughts and fantasies" because it's widely reported on SSRI-sex Yahoo group people claiming that their normal sexual fantasies and thoughts have been altered or disappeared.
Claiming that "
SSRIs may help alter a dysfunctional serotonergic system" is not a good explanation. Why on earth people who have conventional sexual fantasies are also affected when they take SSRIs?
It's written here:
"
Since serotonin affects sexual appetite,..." and this is what really happens along with changes in sexual thoughts and fantasies which should be investigated because normal people are having sexual problems such as anorgasmia, lost of libido, lack of sexual thoughts and fantasies even after years off SSRIs.
It should be considered as an serious iatrogenic condition and not praised because it can fix paraphilias.

*This is quite scary! I wonder what kind of alterations this increasing of hippocampal volume can do.

4 comments:

susan said...

Hi Ana,

I thought it was fiction too, with the name of "Kafka" being one of the authors.


This article is Kafkaesque to say the least.

Thank you for posting this.....

Ana said...

I've also noticed "Kafka" being one of the authors were kind of ironic.
But this is not the first time I see his name.

Anonymous said...

I've seen some claims on the web about SSRI's being used to reduce paraphilias. My personal experience after 21 years on SSRI and SNRI treatment was different. After several years on SSRI's for anxiety/panic and OCD, I seemed to develop multiple paraphilias/fetishes and my normal sexual interests and appetite became suppressed. I lost interest in the opposite sex. At roughly the same time (several years in to treatment), my emotions dissipated, I became completely indifferent to everything and I lost control of a number of behaviours, some of which became compulsive or addiction-like in nature. I became disinhibited and lost restraint in a number of ways. I eventually regained control during the latter stages of withdrawal from SSRI's. Don't get me wrong, the meds were brilliant with curbing anxiety and doing their job for me, but the emotional, behavioural, moral and sexual compass was sent spinning over time. People can react to these drugs in some strange ways. I believe I was on them too long and this resulted in some pretty profound effects on how I thought, felt and perceived things, sex included.

Ana said...

Thank you for your testimony anonymous.
You are not alone. Many people have reported what you're experiencing.
Search on Yahoo group "PSSD".
Have a great 2018