I read somewhere that depression can be transferred sexually, is this a myth?
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I’d never heard of sexually transmitted depression, and in my follow-up with a physician, my psychiatrist, and my therapist, neither had they heard of such a thing. My friend and I have not been sexual since that talk at the bar. We’ve discussed the conversation once, and I told him I respect his beliefs but I do not agree with them.
I’m assuming that whatever YouTube you watched gave evidence of a link between depression and microbiome makeup (like this one) with the idea that sexual activity could influence the microbiome (like this one, involving mice). These studies and others like them have by no means conclusively determined anything—they merely suggested, like most of their kind, that more study may be warranted. They represent an inkling of an inkling. As far as I can tell, no study (or scientist for that matter) has actually suggested that depression can be contracted through sex. To make absolute sure, I reached out to an expert who did not want to be quoted or named here (wonder why!) but nonetheless told me that they had never heard of any such thing, just like your doctors.