Are You Taking SSRIs? What You Need To Know

One common side effect of SSRIs is treatment-induced sexual dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction is seen as a side effect in approximately 70 percent of patients taking paroxetine, and most other SSRIs produce similar rates.² Other side effects include drowsiness, insomnia, and long-term weight gain. Rare but more severe risks include increased suicidal thoughts in children and young adults and serotonin syndrome, a life-threatening adverse reaction to the medication. Furthermore, patients are much more likely to disclose negative side effects on a questionnaire rather than tell their doctor about it, which is the traditional method of obtaining side effect data in clinical trials.³ Thus, published findings may underestimate the true level of adverse effects. In addition to side effects while taking antidepressants, there are also withdrawal effects following discontinuation of the medicationthat may trigger a relapse of symptoms.⁴ These withdrawal effects may help to explain why most people stay on antidepressants for two years or longer.⁵

https://www.anxiety.org/how-effective-are-antidepressants-treating-anxiety