Irish Independent: Perimenopause, HRT and me: ‘Men think their partners are lunatics... It’s rage and sadness wrapped into one wrecking ball’.

In an article from the Irish Independent, 13 women share deeply personal accounts of their experiences with perimenopause, misdiagnosis, and accessing hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). While the piece primarily explores the physical and emotional toll of hormonal changes, it notably includes an important and rare reference to Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD)—a little-known, yet devastating condition.

Andrea Horan, a 44-year-old business owner, recounts how she was prescribed an SSRI after experiencing overwhelm and anxiety. Rather than helping, the medication left her emotionally blunted and sexually numb. Alarmingly, she developed PSSD—a condition she discovered only after researching her symptoms. Andrea describes the fear and distress of losing her libido, a core part of her identity and well-being. Her account is one of the very few in mainstream media that explicitly names and validates PSSD.

Andrea’s story highlights a broader systemic issue: how women’s symptoms during perimenopause are frequently misattributed to depression and treated with antidepressants, often without appropriate investigation into hormonal causes. Many women featured in the article reported being offered SSRIs as a first-line response to emotional or cognitive symptoms, despite not being depressed. This misdiagnosis not only delays proper treatment, but in some cases, such as PSSD, may lead to long-term iatrogenic harm.

The piece underscores the urgent need for medical professionals to better differentiate between mood disorders and hormone-related changes—and to recognise the risk of permanent sexual dysfunction following SSRI use, especially in women navigating midlife hormonal shifts.