Valiant Mom Fights Antidepressant Side Effects With Her 'OrgasmQuest'

The name OrgasmQuest sounds more like an adult board game or a point-and-click adventure from the ’90s, but for Crista Anne, a sex-blogger and mom living with depression, it’s a quest to find herself and her happiness with one self-induced orgasm a day.

In a piece for the Philadelphia City Paper, Crista’s friend and fellow sex writer Rachel Kramer Bussel explores the reasons why OrgasmQuest is so important and how antidepressants, can force one to make a trade-off between feeling good and being able to achieve sexual pleasure on one’s own—a difficult proposition, considering that orgasms have so many benefits.

From the piece:

What led to her quest wasn’t a lack of partnered pleasure, but solo sexual satisfaction, an issue which is far from frivolous. “Before this, I had always been able to orgasm,” she explains. “Being able to orgasm in minutes keeps my stress and anxiety down. Orgasm is my best migraine stopper and helps with fibromyalgia flares. Suddenly not being able to orgasm whenever the heck I wanted to was a massive blow to the core of my identity. I find it completely unacceptable. I would rather orgasm than need to take a pill for panic attacks.”

Crista points out that her quest, provocative as the title may make it seem, isn’t about showing off; it’s about helping others understand that they’re not alone. She tweets “highlights” of her adventures and says that she gets both support and gratitude from followers every day. “I refuse to accept that I have to sacrifice my orgasm to find relief from my depression,” she says. “It’s an illness just like any other.”

For many like Anne, the side effects that come with depression may decrease sexual pleasure or make it much more difficult (or sometimes impossible) to orgasm. By sharing her own journey, Crista is letting others know that they, too, don’t have to give up their pleasure in order to feel better. And, as Bussel writes, by focusing on self-pleasure, Crista’s reminding her followers that there’s more than one way to care for and explore yourself. And that it’s important.

So far, Crista’s been having impressive results. You can find her tweets at @pinkness.