A new study published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Viagra, usually prescribed for male sexual dysfunction, may help women with sexual side effects of antidepressants.
The study’s coauthor Julia Heiman, director of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington, and colleagues recruited 100 women with no pre-existing sexual troubles between the ages 18 to 50, who reported having sexual difficulties while taking antidepressants. The double-blind study randomly selected half of the women to receive Viagra and the other half received a placebo. Both groups were instructed to take a pill one or two hours before having sex, according to Science News.
Over the eight-week study participants were asked a standardized set of questions by researchers and documented their experiences in a diary. The women who received Viagra reported greater sexual satisfaction while the placebo group reported only slight improvement, reports the Sciences News.
