Take myself for example pre PSSD: chronic anxiety, social anxiety, introvert, shy, depressed, daydreaming, maladaptive daydreaming, hyperphantasia, racing thoughts, spontanious thoughts and ideas, never ending inner-monologue, overthinking, unable to focus (reading, studying), tired during the day, empathic, crying easily, easily fall in love, strong emotions from music, procrastinating alot.
That sounds a lot like how I was.
Maybe… but I think that it is more noticeable for people who are more creative, hypersexual, more sensitive or at least had a richer emotional state of mind who all notice the damage more than others.
For example, I was hypersexual, my libido was high since puberty, I could have sex everyday, thought of sex all the time, was comfortable and confident and never once had a problem getting horny or getting erections. So you better damn well believe that I knew immediately when something was off and I didn’t have the urge for sex or masturbation for even one day.
Someone who is naturally low libido, isn’t interested in sex, at least not in the mood for it but maybe 1-2 x a month, is going to take them a while to figure out that their “normal” sex drive is off.
This is the same for neuropathy/weakness of some sort. For example, I work out regularly and if I started getting some neuropathy where suddenly I couldn’t press/pull, lift or carry/squat as much as what would be considered fairly easy and noticed that I was getting objectively weaker despite my training, you better believe I am going to be first to notice. If I used to be able to do 40 pushups easily and suddenly I struggled just to get 20, that might indicate a problem but someone hearing that I could do 20 might not think it is weak…but for me it would be a huge drop in strength that is not normal.
A sedentary person who never pushes themselves in the gym or with physical activity of some kind probably won’t notice they are getting neuropathy for a long time because their baseline is so low that it will take something extremely out of the ordinary for them to realize something major is wrong.
A highly creative and imaginative person who suddenly loses their “inner eye”/mental imagery is going to notice PSSD blank mind before someone else who probably didn’t have as much creative thought or endeavors. I know I did.
I do think that for whatever reason some might be more susceptible but I think those who are more active/talented/creative/sexual are going to realize something is wrong and be more sensitive to to damaging effects of PSSD.
Same like me
i was/ am like that. enfp personality type and probably highly sensitive person.
That was me. I thought it was a problem and needed fixing. I wish I had loved the person who I was more. My experience was truly unique.
"wish I had loved the person who I was more" well said. Such a gift and unique perspective I had on life before the drugs. I thought I was different and odd but in reality looking back It was a gift. An experience I should have cherished every second of.
I'll never experience that person again. You just made me think back to a time. Thank you
Society tells you that it's wrong to be like this. You're not supposed to ever be sad or depressed, those are diseases. You need to always be customer-service-happy and smiling so others feel comfortable around you. You're not supposed to daydream or be weird. You're supposed to constantly try to connect with others instead of enjoying your inner world, you fucking weirdo. If you make art, it has to be for others, not for your own enjoyment. You're told to live out, not in. To live out, you take drugs.
We simply caved to other people. I caved because I got into a relationship. And boy, do you finally begin to understand what loneliness is when you lose your inner monologue or imagination. Before PSSD I have never experienced that feeling and couldn't understand why people define it as the worst thing in the world. Most people are hollow and need others to enrich them.
Yes and another piece of evidence for that is that although fairly rare, we have sufferers whose sibling also ended up with PSSD
We do but mine didn't from the same drug.
In reality it could be but we just don't know without proper research- at this stage we don't even really understand what pssd is and what mechanisms it works by to even begin to evaluate whether someone might be genetically predisposed to it.
Yes. I think highly sensitive people are more likely to get it. You describe me too
me too, except for the crying easy part, on that end I'm on the polar opposite.
regarding the question, it's possible but unless there are further studies on the matter it's all down to anecdotal
I think there are probably multiple genetic predispositions that cause PSSD/PFS. Those of us who crashed violently immediately after trying the offending substance probably have all of them
that was me to the t
I am exactly what you describe and I’m on ssri and my libido went out the window immediately. Absolutely petrified to get pssd. Please help, should I stop the meds?!
I was quite the opposite, very outgoing and rarely cried. But I was creative as well and had a high libido. Unlike many people here, I haven’t lost that creativity
I’m almost exactly the same with regards to your pre-PSSD self. I don’t have PSSD because when I started taking lexapro years ago, it started causing sexual dysfunction pretty quickly — I was still very horny but had trouble getting and staying aroused, and experienced difficulty in orgasming — which more than negated the marginal mood boost it was giving me, so I quit taking it and to this day, I refuse to go on any other SSRIs because I’m terrified of the sexual side effects.
It sucks because I still suffer from deep depression and anxiety. I’ve tried Wellbutrin a number of times over the last decade with disappointing results, it usually makes me too nauseous to stay on it for long, and it makes it impossible for me to sleep (exacerbating my normally awful insomnia). So I’m feeling very hopeless about ever finding a good solution to my mental health issues that doesn’t cause intolerable side effects.
I was so emotional and passionate but I hardly cry
I think most of us are HSP
I think it is the point we start from it
Yes. Same for me.
I have all these symptoms and was thrown on a handful of antidepressants. None worked obviously, especially not the SSRIs. I felt so numb on them, yet so irritable. But that’s a whole can of worms I’m not gonna get into. Anywho, I also have bipolar disorder and ADHD. I was misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression. Then I got a proper evaluation.
Why I think PSSD happens, in simple terms is this: People are misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression by non psych professionals or dismissive psych professionals, a lot of the time anxiety and depression is a SYMPTOM not a disorder in of itself. It may be debilitating but it’s just a singular manifestation of another issue. Antidepressants are more likely to be prescribed, specifically SSRIs, as a first line of defense (I’m not going to review medications or classes of medications since I don’t think that’s allowed) when they should not be. They’re too (in my opinion) risky and the success rate really isn’t high enough to be throwing people on these meds willy nilly. When you’re given meds you don’t need, especially psych meds, you’ll end up with some type of complication from what I’ve seen. Also, anecdotal evidence obviously, but I have a family member who actually had depression as a disorder and not a symptom of something else and his SSRI helped him tons. It’s just insane how vast reactions to medications can be.
Think about it, how common is depression as a disorder, and not a symptom? Obviously it can be a disorder requiring medication but a lot of the time it is a small piece of a larger picture. Simple depression and anxiety screenings don’t screen for other issues and I feel like they make it so short sighted on purpose to push drugs, but I won’t get into that rant.
Now, I’d suggest you get a full on evaluation done if you can, or if you want to. If you’re in the US, and want to go through with that I can give you some pointers on how to find the right professional for you! And if you want some pointers on how to help with some of your symptoms I’m more than happy to give you some advice!!
You just described me pre-PSSD, sans crying and falling in love. I'm pretty sure I've seen this exact list here multiple times before.
We need to figure out the basic genetic and biochemical features of this phenotype, and perhaps we can get it back.
I have everything expect the lack of focus on lessons. I was very good in memorize amd learn things. The others are the same
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