As anyone who's had a partner on antidepressants knows, those little happy pills unfortunately typically wreak havoc on your libido and ability to orgasm. A new small study involving 97 women (average age: 37) apparently indicates that women who are on antidepressants reported having better orgasms than women who took the placebo "dummy" pill. Specifically:

The research involving 98 premenopausal women found that Viagra helped with orgasm. But the benefits did not extend to other aspects of sex, such as desire, researchers report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

[snip]

Although 72 percent of the women taking Viagra reported improvement on an overall scale, only 27 percent of the women taking the placebo reported improvement.

Althof said it's "worrisome" that 43 percent of the women on Viagra experienced headaches, compared with 27 percent of the women on dummy pills. Indigestion and reddening of skin (flushing) also were reported more often by the women taking Viagra.

Psychologist Leonore Tiefer of New York University School of Medicine said industry-funded research has oversimplified women's sexual experience. She noted that the new study, funded by a Pfizer grant, found more side effects than benefits.

"Where's the question to the women: Is it worth it?" Tiefer said.

An earlier study in men taking antidepressants found more pronounced sexual benefits with Viagra than the benefits found for women, said lead author Dr. George Nurnberg, a psychiatrist at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque.

Indeed, the side effects here may eclipse the sexual benefits (although -- as I said -- the destruction of the libido via antidepressants can be extremely frustration / maddening). In general, we just need more research on women's sexuality / pleasure / desire!

You can read the original study in the Journal of the American Medical Association for free here.