Affiliations: [a] North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine, Bangor, Wales, UK
| [b] David Braley and Nancy Gordon Chair of Family Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: David Healy, MD FRCPsych, North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine, Bangor, Wales LL57 2PW, UK. Tel.: +44 1248 384453; Fax: +44 1248 371397; E-mail: david.healy54@gmail.com.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:A petition to the European Medicines Agency provided an opportunity to collect reports of a specific adverse event from patients and healthcare professionals, along with details of clinicians’ attitudes when asked to endorse patient reports. METHODS:We approached a cohort of patients reporting post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) to an adverse event reporting website, RxISK.org. The responses of patients on their interactions with healthcare professionals were subject to a qualitative analysis. RESULTS:A total of 62 participants from 23 countries provided details of their experiences. While some had received support and validation of their condition, many described a number of difficulties including a lack of awareness or knowledge about PSSD, not being listened to, receiving unsympathetic or inappropriate responses, and a refusal to engage with the published medical literature. CONCLUSIONS:Healthcare professionals are nervous about or reluctant to engage with novel problems on a treatment. This is not widely appreciated and the reasons for this concern are not understood.
