The medications that can trigger sex and gambling addictions
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A BBC investigation has heard from hundreds of people who say they developed sex and gambling addictions after taking a category of prescription drugs called dopamine agonists.
Millions of people in the US and around the world have been prescribed these medications, which are used to treat various illnesses, from Parkinson’s to depression. But they have well-established side effects: around 1 in 6 people who take them develop impulse control disorders.
Noel Titheradge, investigations correspondent, shares the story of one American woman who developed hypersexuality after she took a dopamine agonist drug. Like many of the patients Noel has spoken to, she says she was not warned that her medication could dramatically change her personality.
Noel’s investigation is also a BBC podcast series. Search for ‘Shadow World: Impulsive’.
If you have any concerns about medication you’re taking, speak to your doctor. For further information on the issues raised in the programme, contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Producers: Viv Jones
Executive producer: Bridget Harney
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: A mixture of pills. Credit: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.3 | Today we've got a special BBC investigation for you all. |
| 0:10.0 | It's a really, really fascinating story. |
| 0:12.4 | But I also want to note that this episode talks about sex, and there's a mention of suicide. |
| 0:16.9 | So please take care while listening, and if you have little ones around, you might want to listen to this at a different moment. |
| 0:23.7 | When Charlene was 42 years old, living in Massachusetts, she began taking this new medicine to help her with mild depression. |
| 0:31.4 | The drug worked, her mood improved. |
| 0:34.0 | But after taking it for a while, her behavior also started to change dramatically. |
| 0:39.5 | I had this kind of insatiable sex drive all of a sudden, and that meant seeking out men wherever I could seek them out. |
| 0:50.2 | What Charlene didn't realize, because the thought never crossed her mind, was that these changes were a side effect of her new medication. |
| 0:58.8 | Millions of people all over the world have been prescribed drugs like the one Charlene was taking. |
| 1:04.2 | They're called dopamine agonis. |
| 1:07.2 | And they're used to treat various illnesses from Parkinson's to depression. |
| 1:10.7 | But for an alarming number of patients, these drugs don't just... And they're used to treat various illnesses, from Parkinson's to depression. |
| 1:16.8 | But for an alarming number of patients, these drugs don't just treat the symptoms of those diseases. |
| 1:21.5 | They also have side effects that can fundamentally alter people's personalities. |
| 1:29.3 | I'm Asma Khalid, and today on the Global Story, a new BBC investigation has heard from hundreds of people whose lives were turned upside down by prescription medications. How did this happen? And why do |
| 1:35.3 | patients say they weren't sufficiently warned? Well, Noel, it's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for coming on the show. |
| 1:50.0 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:51.2 | Noel Titheridge is an investigations correspondent at the BBC, and he's been working on this investigation for over a year. |
| 1:58.1 | I kicked off our conversation by asking him how he first came across this story. |
| 2:03.5 | Well, I heard about a case going through the courts in France. So that involved a French man |
... |
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