Why does Dr David Healy dismiss the idea that PSSD has anything to do with neurotransmitters?

[Moloch]

Dr David Healy claims to be an expert on the serotonin system. I don't doubt the credibility of this claim, though I do wonder why he so readily dismisses the idea that neurotransmitters have anything to do with PSSD. From his latest article on PSSD, 'The Mysteries of Love' http://wp.rxisk.org/the-mysteries-of-love/, published January 5th 2015: "The standard approach that people affected with PSSD have taken to solving the problem has been to think in terms of neurotransmitters. This is probably the wrong way to think but it can be useful it if gets people to try things out. Trying things out is the key thing." In saying this he's also dismissing the largely accepted theory on this forum, that the major cause of PSSD is 5-HT1A autoreceptor desensitization, if I'm not mistaken. In favour of, it seems, scrambling around blindly in the dark hoping to grab onto something helpful by chance. As the next line of the same article suggests: "On RxISK we have researched a number of left field options – unfortunately these haven’t worked either."

I feel like we should be appreciative of his efforts, but why does someone who could be a major help to us refuse to consider the possibility that neurotransmitters play a part in this? Considering his vast knowledge of them and the resources he has access to, wouldn't his time be better spent attempting to do more controlled trials of some of the things that have been discussed on this forum, rather than picking drugs seemingly at random, with no distinct theory behind his choices? Is it just because he wants to be the one to find the 'cure', rather than accepting that a group of unqualified people might be onto something? Thoughts anyone?

[Ghost]

Yea I've had this same opinion of him for a while.

For someone who runs a site that advocates against blindly taking drugs, he really seems to push random things on people.

1) He benefits from PSSD existing because it helps his blogs and books. (This wouldn't be bad on it's own...but...)

2) He has a really pessimistic (Yahoo group) type view on PSSD. It's like "Well, you're fucked. Nothing we've tried has worked, recovery is very rare. Let's all bitch about big Pharma and feel shitty about this loss." Then he posts these articles that allow people to comment about how fucked they are. Yea it builds attention, but it's so dark and senselessly so. He would claim that no treatments have been found, but that's bull because many people have found things that really improve symptoms for them.

That being said, I have heard about this study he is trying to conduct around PSSD, and that's really exciting.

I think his heart is in the right place, I just wish he'd post a bit more positively, and about some of the effective treatments that we have found here. PSSD sucks, but it's not a death sentence, and the more you ruminate about how shitty it is, the more depressed you become. If I would have found his site first, and that was it...I may not be alive right now. It's just so damn depressing.

If he doesn't think it's neurotransmitters, then what the fuck does he think it is? Pharma voodoo? I wish he'd talk more about the science side. I guess he's just not that kind of doctor though. Less research type, and more hype type.

[Blackout]

He is an advocate of ECT instead of psychiatric drugs, that is why. I guess he is no different from my own psychiatrist, who says to trust in me when I tell her about PSSD, but she hasn't gave me proof that she has read all the studies and cases that I gave to her. She only tells me "I'm reading it", but no comments, no opinions to proof me that she's not lying. And she insists me to be put on ECT by the way. She tells me that ECT will fix everything, as if she knew what's going on with PSSD and as if ECT was a perfectly understood procedure.

[Sonny]

It sounds like he is a total quack. Let's remove that link back to his site off the main forum page. I think you need access to the template files to do it.

[Maldoror]

Isn't calling him a quack too strong? Do we really want to alienate the person who talks most about PSSD?

[Sonny]

Well if it talks like a duck.....

[Maldoror]

Just because he says he doesn't know the etiology of PSSD? Zero doctor's in the world claim to know the cause of PSSD.

[Riley]

It is not known whether PSSD has anything to do with neurotransmitters or not. Actually, its pretty embarrassing that people are still using insanely simplistic descriptive words like "neurotransmitters" and "chemical imbalances" to describe PSSD, depression, anxiety, etc.. Antidepressants do much more than just "raise serotonin or dopamine" by blocking re-uptake. SSRIs cause brain wide changes from just single doses that we don't understand.

Dr. David Healy is correct to not broadcast PSSD as being a neurotransmitter problem/imbalance. That is the kind of laughable propaganda that pharmaceutical companies used to push drugs like SSRIs so that they sounded more healthy/scientific in the first place.

And I find it very surprising that some in this forum are wanting to turn away from one of the very few doctors that actually acknowledges PSSD and who wants to bring more awareness and research to the issue. Healy is the best guy we got right now.

[Sonny]

Chemical imbalance is a stupid imprecise term. Neurotransmitters are an actual thing though. It's just a generic term for any chemical used in brain function. Healy says a lot of crazy things. We do roughly what the problem is. Not having all the answers down to the finest detail is not the same as knowing nothing.