Ask a depressed woman if she’d take Viagra to invigorate a faded libido caused by the antidepressants she’s taking to keep the blues away and she’s likely to say the proposition sounds like a pretty bitter pill to swallow. Others, however, would jump at the chance. If only it worked that way.

Treatment with the most commonly-prescribed antidepressants cause sexual dysfunction in 30% to 70% of the adults who take them. This particular side effect is said to be the reason 70% of all patients prescribed antidepressants stop taking them, with many people opting out of treatment in the first few months. Patients who take medications on a long-term basis to prolong recurrent episodes or relapses of depression are particularly interested in finding a way to revive their sex drives while remaining under treatment for chronic depression.

Selective and nonselective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI and SRI, respectively) antidepressants account for 90% of the 180 million prescriptions written every year to treat depression in adults from 18 to 65 years of age.

Sexual dysfunction in women is defined as either delayed orgasm or inadequate natural lubrication, also diagnosed as lack of arousal.

The good news is that Viagra actually does work in many women experiencing sexual dysfunction caused by antidepressant medications. At the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico, H. George Nurnberg, MD, and his colleagues tested sildenafil on 98 women, whose average age was 37, from September 2003 to January 2007. The women reported to seven different research centers in the United States.

In a random assignment of medications, half the women were given sildenfil (Viagra) and the other half received a placebo. Dosages ranged from 50 milligrams (mg) to 100 mg. For an eight-week study period, the women ingested the medications one or two hours before engaging in anticipated sexual activities.

Only 28% of the women taking sildenfil said they experienced no improvement with treatment. In the placebo group, 73% reported no improvements. When level of severity was measured, the group taking sildenfil again reported the greatest improvements.

More details of the Nurnberg study are available in the July 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA.