One of the ironies in this modern world is that for every ailment, there seems to be a medication to help cure it. And for every side effect of that medication, there’s another medication you can take. It’s no wonder that so many people can end up on a half dozen medications before they know it, and walk around feeling not unlike a zombie.
In an ideal world, of course, medications would be far more targeted and have virtually no side effects (certainly none that needed additional medications to control). Sadly, that world is decades away given our current level of knowledge and science.
It should’ve come as little surprise then to read about how Viagra can help women who are also taking an antidepressant, as one of the most common side effects of modern antidepressants is a significant decrease in one’s sex drive for many people (between 30% and 70%) who take them.
“Sure Doc, I feel less depressed, but I also have lost all desire for sex!” How this ever became a more desirable side effect than first-generation antidepressants’ side effects of things like dry mouth is beyond me. (Yes, I’m being a bit facetious, as there are other concerns with first generation antidepressants such as tricyclics.)
So let’s take a closer look at this most recent study, published in the July issue of JAMA and funded by none other (yes, you guessed it!), the makers of Viagra. Keep in mind, too, that virtually every other study on Viagra has shown no beneficial effects for women. Until this company-funded study was published. Ninety-eight women were included in the study, and this is what their sexual problems looked like at the onset:
As determined by the inclusion criteria, the prevalence of sexual problems was high and the mean (SD) number of problems reported was 3.0 for the sildenafil group and 2.8 the placebo group, with 95.8% of women reporting more than 1 complaint. They reported disturbances in desire (87.8%), subjective arousal (80.6%), lubrication (79.6%), orgasm delay (98.7%), and other difficulties (23.6%), which included anorgasmia, lack of pleasure, and pain. Prior to study entry, the women self-reported a mean of 6.0 sexual attempts per month, of which 1.4, or 29.6%, were considered successful.
Six attempts per month at sex but only 1 1/2 were considered successful? Yikes. Definitely some issues there that could benefit from a solution.
I think the authors gloss over their actual findings a bit, as the data table (Table 2) shows a far more mixed message. While their primary scale showed significance (a clinician-rated scale), the secondary scales used (which included more self-report assessments) showed significance and inter-scale agreement between the two groups only in the ability to reach orgasm on the two measures intended to provide concurrent validity.
The most robust finding of this research therefore suggests only that women taking an antidepressant will have an easier time achieving an orgasm while on Viagra than women who don’t. It’s not some magical pill that will completely change your sex life. But for those who take it, it’s likely to help improve their sex life and make sex enjoyable once again. Previous research has shown no such benefits for non-depressed women.
Notably, there was no change in the two groups’ depression scores from the start of the study to its end. In other words, not taking Viagra and having a less-than-satisfying sex life seems not to negatively impact one’s depression.
Read our news story on the study: Viagra Effective for Women
View the study: Sildenafil Treatment of Women With Antidepressant-Associated Sexual Dysfunction
2 comments
My mother Debbie Manka married her Psychologist Matt Manka.It completley destroyed our family,ruined my brothers health as well as mine and destroyed my father. It was a disgusting ,covert act on Matt Mankas part as he was counseling my parents ,then moved in on my mom. I think he should have his license removed,now him and my mother run Lifestreams Solutions in Arizona.What a farce and hideous place to hire them. They are home wreckers and have no morals at all as therapists. Any comments?
Matt manka and Debbie manka Psychologist story
I read the story about Lifestreams Solutions Counseling Center(Arizona) about Matt Manka And Debbie Manka. Matt was the Psychologist who married his patient Debbie and it destroyed their family and kids etc. There is a reason psychologists arent supposed to marry or date their clients. They have ultimate mental/emotional leverage over the patient. Mr. Manka should have considered the well being of her children and family before forcing his gold-digging agenda onto that family(who i undrstand are millionares). Its a disgrace,the whole story. Manka was even counseling the couple for marriage problems before moving in on the wife. Is she deaf,dumb and blind or what? Any comments out there?
Here is the Most up to date information on Matt and Debbie Manka:
Whomever the dumbell was that wrote the above letter defending them is very uninformed(it is likely Matt Manka):
1) Matt Manka was counseling Debbie Strand )in early to mid 1990s)and her husband Joe Strand in Orland Park for marriage counseling. he had previously counseled another family member thus knew debbie and husband joe were millionares.!!!hmmmmm
2) he suggested to Debbie to counsel her alone and sent hubby to another counselor in the same Orland park counseling complex. Here is where there sexual relationship began as admitted to her sons and daughter years later any denial of this is a lie to protect his license!!!!
3) Joe strand(husband) tried filing an investigation on Matt and basically ran him out of town as the department of ethical standards would eventually catch up with him. (this is why they move around so much)
4) DCFS was called on Debbie twice for violent episodes with daughter in 1998
5) attorney Scott D Sherwin filed for all psyche records and transcripts between Debbie and Matt manka to display to the court the nature of this illegal relationship(mark perks attorney)
5) matt Mankas ex girlfriends and wife came to the Strand home and pleaded with debbie not to trust Matt as he had abused a woman forcibly before in some violent episode,police were called , Debbie was warned by this woman not to marry Matt
6) Police were employed from Orland Park again as Matt had a brawl with another of Debbies male harem in front of the kids,all parties were drunk
7) Debbies own son tried to punch out Matt in objection to their marriage and other issues
8) Police we employed again to the strand house as the son was having a mental breakdown and threatening other with a knife following a drug overdose
If anyone doubts any of this use the FOIA (freedom of information act) and file with Orland Park Police to get the records on the Strand household as Debbie and Matt were on watch. it will display to all that want to see it that Matt should have his license revoked once and for all!!!!