What to do when depression & antidepressants kill your libido: real talk & my story

Pleasure Uprising: Desire, Attachment, and the Sex You Actually Want

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Pleasure Uprising: Desire, Attachment, and the Sex You Actually Want
What to do when depression & antidepressants kill your libido: real talk & my story
Dec 15, 2025 Episode 99
Laura Jurgens, Ph.D.

Depression tanks your libido. Then you finally get help with antidepressants—and your sex drive tanks even more. If this is you, you're not broken. You're dealing with a real, common side effect that nobody wants to talk about.

In this episode, I break down the double whammy of depression and SSRIs on your sex life: how depression shuts down motivation (including for sex), why antidepressants compound the problem by affecting serotonin and dopamine, and how orgasm difficulties create a feedback loop that kills desire even further.

I also share my personal story—how I dealt with depression, the mental scripts generating self-hatred that my brain was trying to protect me from, and how I got off meds through coaching and massive self-compassion work. Literally re-writing the thoughts in my head changed everything.

We cover: what you can actually do about it (medication options, body-based approaches, relationship support), why this isn't your fault, and how to stop choosing between mental health and a satisfying sex life.

Quick note: I'm not a medical doctor—this is educational, not medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about medication decisions.

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Get my free guide: Get Out of Your Head: A Starter Guide to Releasing the Pressure, Shame, and "Shoulds" Around Intimacy at https://laurajurgens.com/guide

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