Current thinking seems to separate brain chemistry and psychology into two distinct categories, where issues exist and are resolved on either one or the other side. There is certainly support for this line of thought, but we also know there is an interplay between brain chemistry and psychology that is not well understood, so it is possible possible that the distinction is not as sharp as we think. This merits further exploration.
Just like chemical changes in the brain can cause psychological effects, events with a strong emotional impact can have also from my understanding, aside from lasting psychological effects, also cause chemically measurable changes in the brain, such as depression. If there is an interchange between psychology and chemistry, it seems therefore that at least some issues on either end could be both caused and resolved on either side.
The article linked below speculates that the brain could be viewed as a chaotic system that if pushed beyone certain limits, may settle in a different state. Perhaps this push can be either chemical or emotional?
The alternative is thinking of the body as a chaotic system which settles into various attractors. Take the wrong drug and you can push yourself into a different attractor state, which will persist until something shifts it. This definitely seems true of some things, and is one of the ways I think about depressive episodes... [1]
Emotional events like getting fired can cause long term depression, while HPPD seems to at least anecdotally be caused more often by bad trips, where the dose is in the normal range but the emotional impact is strong and negative."Psychedelics may permanently increase openness and hypnotizability, though it’s unclear if this is biochemical or just that drug trips are a life-changing experience." [1]
So what about PSSD?
The current line of thinking is that it's caused by chemical changes and that therefore the solution also lies in brain chemistry.
Are we really certain that the cause should be viewed as chemical and not psychological? The answer seems obvious because we all took some chemical that apparently caused these issues. But those chemicals also created an emotional state, and we know that strong emotional states can linger for a long time. We also know that emotional states can sometimes be resolved through psychological means.
But let's say the cause it better viewed as chemical. The interplay between psychology and chemistry (to the extent these are actually different things) still suggest that there could be a psychological solution.
I can recall two episodes where I was basically back at 100%.
The first was on a business trip. I was stuck at an airport for some time without much to do. So I sat down and in a very relatex state, spent some time looking at the people around me although there weren't many. An attractive woman was sitting some distance ahead of me. At first there I had no reaction, but after looking at her for a while, all of a sudden I could feel my emotions coming back. I tried looking away and looking back and for some reason things just worked. Once this state had started, it escalated and I was unbelievably horny for the next couple of days.
At the time I had no idea what might have caused this, but a year or so later after discounting habits, diet, supplements, etc, I figured my emotional state might have had something to do with it. During a period where I could feel my emotions somewhat coming back, I decided to try meditation. I'd get myself into a meditative state and in that state, I'd chose to fantasise about sex. At first I didn't feel anything in particular and had no physical reaction, but after focusing for a while, I managed to get a boner, which at the time would normally require physical stimulation. At some point, things flipped and I got extremely horny. I was back again. This time the state lasted for a few hours with some lingering effects up to a day.
I haven't been able to repeat this. Nevertheless, the idea of creating chemical changes through an emotions rather than the other way around (which is far easier), might be worth exploring.
HPPD AND THE SPECTER OF PERMANENT SIDE EFFECTS
1. http://slatestarcodex.com/2018/06/06/hp ... e-effects/
