My wife is in her late forties and suffers from mild depression and is on a drug called Serzone. Her sex drive seems unusually high — especially when she has relapses of depression, which sometimes occur even though she’s on medication. Is there any possible connection?
Frequently, people who are depressed have decreased sexual drive along with other alterations in physiological functioning, such as decreased (or increased) appetite, insomnia, constipation, decreased energy, and fatigue.
However, some people — a decided minority — have increased sexual drive. When people are depressed, they may seek compensatory gratification through sex, shopping, eating chocolates, or whatever avenue of pleasure is open to them.
Chronic depression can affect every part of your life, including sex. Depression can curb your sex drive, but sex can boost your mood and this is important for relationships. Some medicines can curb your libido.
What’s most important is to not stop depression treatment out of fear that sex and your relationship will suffer. That’s because depression can hurt relationships and may cause people you care about to take these problems personally.
Sex offers human contact and closeness. That may be one explanation of your wife’s behavior. Also, generally speaking, enhanced sexual drive associated with antidepressant use can be a sign of clinical improvement.