SSRI Withdrawal Is Mitochondrial Dysfunction
From Mastering Nutrition by Chris Masterjohn, PhD
November 23, 2025 · 1h 29m
About this episode
Chris Masterjohn discusses the connection between SSRI withdrawal and mitochondrial dysfunction, detailing symptoms and implications.
Chris Masterjohn, PhD, Founder and Scientific Director of mito.me, explains why SSRI withdrawal is mitochondrial dysfunction and what to do about it. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 29 million Americans and about 5-10% of the world's population are on SSRIs, which have become the first-line treatment of depression. These can cause sexual dysfunction and emotional blunting in up to half of people, an unclear incidence of sleep disruption, and a rare risk of suicidality, self-harm, and new-onset psychosis. On the other hand, 20-50% of people who go off experience SSRI discontinuation syndrome. This can involve irritability, anxiety, mood problems, crying, dread, suicidal ideation, insomnia, nightmares, excessive dreaming, lethargy, fatigue, headache, tremor, sweating, anorexia, flu-like symptoms, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, pain, numbness, tingling, feeling like something is crawling on the skin, electric shocks running through the brain or body, rushing noises, visual traces (seeing something persist when it is no longer there, or seeing moving objects leaving illusory streaks of light behind them, etc), dizziness, light-headedness, "brain zaps," vertigo…
People in this episode
Host: Chris Masterjohn, PhD
Topics covered
- SSRI withdrawal
- mitochondrial dysfunction
- mental health
- depression treatment
- discontinuation syndrome
- sexual dysfunction
Keywords
- SSRI withdrawal
- mitochondrial dysfunction
- discontinuation syndrome
- mental health
- depression
- sexual dysfunction
- PSSD
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: mito.me
Places: America, world
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