PSSD – Draft Guidelines

Limit of approximately 1,000 words.

These are general guidelines for writing your personal PSSD story. Having these stories publicly available is an excellent method for bringing attention to our condition. You can write it in English or your native language. Once you have written your story submit it to pssd.action@gmail.com to be featured in the Our Stories section of this website. We also encourage you to share it on Medium https://medium.com/

Name (can be real or chosen):

Age:

(1) Which antidepressant did you take?

(2) What was your life like/ what were you like before taking the drug?

(3) How long did you take the medication?

(4) Describe your experience while taking the drug – Did it solve the original problem? Did it give you any side effects?

(5) Describe what happened when you got PSSD. When was this? How did it make you feel?

(6) Describe the main symptoms of your PSSD.

(7) What has your experience been like trying to get medical help with PSSD?

(8) In total, how long have you been struggling with the symptoms caused by the medication?

(9) How does PSSD impact on your life, your relationships with partners, friends, family?

(10) What do you think would improve the situation for PSSD sufferers?

· The more people that tell their story, the more people will know about PSSD. The more people know, the more people will be concerned and want to help. This could happen to them, to their family member, to their partner.

· The more the people within the medical community know about PSSD the better the chances of the medical community paying attention to this condition. This is what can lead to public research funding becoming available to build upon the research we are all currently contributing to funding. This is what can lead to treatments being developed for the conditions.

· You needn’t feel embarrassed to tell your story. You haven’t done anything wrong. You just trusted a doctor. There is no shame in having PSSD. People aren’t going to negatively judge us for sharing our stories. They will want to help us to make things better.

· You needn’t reveal your identity. You can choose a ‘pen name’.

· It might be upsetting for you to recount your story. No doubt, having PSSD is not a walk in the park. But when you’ve done it once, it can feel liberating. You won’t need to do it again because you’ll have the story ready to use, if you need it. What’s more, the community will be able to re-use the story to raise awareness.

Be brave- raise your voice!