Evo Magz v4.7

A decade ago, Karen C.’s sex drive disappeared. The 39-year-old had recently started medication to deal with mood imbalances, but while her emotions stabilized, her libido bottomed out—and never returned.

All the ways depression sinks desire
Dealing with depression can be tough in so many ways. The devastating effect it can have on sex makes the condition even worse. Researchers have definitively linked this mental health diagnosis to a number of intimacy challenges: difficulties with sexual self-esteem, feeling sexually distant from a partner, trouble communicating about sex, being unsure how to initiate sex, and a flatlining interest in sex in general, according to a new study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Antidepressants play a role, too
Major depressive disorder affects more than 16.1 million American adults, or about 6.7% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. To treat all those people, the most obvious solution to depression is antidepressants; one in nine Americans of all ages reported taking at least one antidepressant medication in a given month, according to national survey data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

How to beat the sexual side effects
It’s very hard to get over the inertia of depression—not just in the bedroom, but in all aspects of your life. But there are things you can do even without medication that can make a difference when it comes to intimacy.

What if your partner is the one who's depressed?
Even if you’re not the one suffering from depression, it can still wreak havoc on your sex life—and it can almost feel worse, because it’s hard to know how to bring the issue up. Whatever you do, tread gently. “People can have a lot of shame around feeling depressed, so if you just show curiosity, it will plant some seeds for the other person to consider depression as a problem,” says Salas.