Sexual dysfunctions in psychiatric patient population

Objektive: Both psychiatric disorders themselves and the antidepressants that are used for the treatment may lead to sexual dysfunctions. In this study, it was aimed to compare sexual side effect profiles of different antidepressants and the sexual effects of four major psychiatric disorders. We also aimed to evaluate the social and demographic factors which affected sexual functions and to assess the results under literature.Method: Study groups were consisted of 409 patients. The disorders were divided into four groups. Affective disorders (n=111), anxiety disorders (n=171), somatoform disorders (n=64) and adjustment disorders (n=63) were the groups of diagnostic categories. Essitalopram (n=62), fluoxetine (n=33), clomipramine (n=26), paroxetine (n=50), sertraline (n=51), citalopram (n=35), venlafaksin (n=52) were the subgroups of antidepressants which are used by the patients. Some of the patients (n=100) were not taking drugs. All patiens were fulfilled a semistructural form which included sociodemographic, clinal characteristics and sexual function informations. All of the subjects were fulfilled Golombok-Rust Sexual Satisfaction İnventory.Results: In this study, we found that %74.8 of the patients had frequency problem, %44.5 had satisfaction problem, %78.7 had general sexual dysfunction, %55.1 of the men had premature ejaculation, %80.2 of the men had erectile dysfunction, %69.8 of the women vaginismus and %34.7 of the women had orgasmic disorder. According to the total scores of GRİSS, higher rates of sexual problems were determined in anxiety disorders than the other groups. According to the total scores of Golombok Rust Sexual Satisfaction İnventory, higher rates of sexual problems were determined in the clomipramine (%100), sertraline (%92.2), paroxetine (%90) groups. The least side effects were determined in the groups of citalopram (%60) and essitalopram (%62.9). Higher doses led to higher rates of sexual dysfunctions for all antidepressants in the study. Patients had higher percentages of sexual satisfaction problem, as their educational levels increased and patients had higher percentages of frequency problem, as their marriage periods increases.Conclusion: New pharmalogical approaches have to be improved for the antidepressant treatment and augmentation according to the higher rates of sexual side effects. Results of our study revealed that sexual side effects were an important problem for antidepressant treatment. New pharmacologic treatment strategies for psychiatric disorders are needed.Key words: antidepressant treatment, sexual dysfunctions, SSRI side effects.