"By now, the psychiatric profession generally recognizes high rates of sexual side effects in adults. And all six of the psychiatrists I talked with for this article noted the importance, when prescribing, of informing adolescent patients about the possibility. They also mentioned the necessity, depending on varying state laws about consent, of informing parents. But Dr. Awais Aftab, who works with adolescents and adults and is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, thinks that most prescribers are not having that conversation. 'I know of very few psychiatrists who discuss it as a potential side effect,' he said, judging by patients who come to him after having seen other practitioners, by his educational work with practicing trainees and by conversations with colleagues. He added that genuine informed consent throughout the practice of medicine is all too rare. Doctors 'might ask you to look at a pamphlet,' he said. 'That’s the culture that has developed. It’s: Here’s the medication I’m recommending.'

Peggy J. Kleinplatz, a professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, told me about a moment that shed light on how family physicians and other primary-care providers — who write the majority of S.S.R.I. prescriptions in the United States and Canada — might be thinking about informed consent with patients. In 2019, Kleinplatz gave a presentation to family physicians at a Canadian medical conference. She asked her audience of some 50 doctors how many of them were aware of the sexual side effects of S.S.R.I.s. 'Eighty percent raised their hands,' she estimated. She asked how many informed their patients about these effects when they prescribed. 'Just one hand went up.' Then she asked why they didn’t. 'They said it’s a matter of patient compliance.' To inform about potential sexual side effects, they worried, was to risk the patient not taking the drug that the doctor thought necessary."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/magazine/antidepressants-ssris-teen-sexual-side-effects.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&fbclid=IwY2xjawOIL9pleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFheG13VFBGNWdTUXhPU0d6c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MghjYWxsc2l0ZQIzMAABHqxAkZE8Dt6mB_1MmORvtOnqibQvBeQBbg-rSf41yKZOePKbRGE-UlahHSD8_aem_gklphRdPRKVlj1bpv1mS6Q