Not everyone with HPPD experiences emotional symptoms of this condition. One review of case studies and case series found that 76% of those with HPPD also experience micropsia or macropsia or “Alice in Wonderland” syndrome. The syndrome causes people to feel as if their body changes in size. Type II HPPD may be ongoing and persistent in nature, with visual distortions that may cause moderate to more intense emotional distress. When you experience Type I HPPD, you’re usually aware that your visual changes aren’t real, although your sense of time may feel as if it’s been altered. As a child and teenager, Marino instinctively suppressed his motor stereotypies when people were around.

Links to NCBI Databases

Clonazepam has been evaluated in three case reports and one open-label trial by Lerner 19,50,51. In the clinical trial, 16 Alcohol Use Disorder HPPD patients were treated with a Clonazepam dosage of 2 mg/day 51. Their symptoms improved significantly after treatment initiation and the improvement persisted during a 6-month follow-up after treatment discontinuation 51.

After Hiding My Undiagnosed Neurological Condition for Decades, I Finally Found Answers

If you feel comfortable, telling a few trusted people what you’re going through at home, school, or work could be beneficial. You can even come up with a code word to signal that you’re having an episode or need some extra support. For example, if you’re driving, you may need to pull over. If you’re at work, you may consider designating a quiet, private place to wait for visual distortions to pass. Planning self-care coping skills that can reduce your fight, flight, or freeze response and calm anxiety quickly can be helpful.

Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder Symptoms

There are questionable and controversial results regarding Sertraline, which has been reported to worsen 81 as well as to improve visual disturbances. Amelioration following long-term administration of SSRIs was attributed to the down-regulation of 5-HT2 receptors, providing more evidence to corroborate the serotonergic mechanisms underlying this condition. Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (NRIs) such as Reboxetine have been tried with some success in LSD-induced HPPD symptoms comorbid with Major Depressive Disorder 20. Agomelatine, given its peculiar function on neurotrophic factors 74, could have some benefits on the syndrome, although no data are available until now. A dosage of 0.75 mg/die of Clonidine has been evaluated as a treatment option for nine HPPD patients 51,59 (Table 4). The total remission has been reported in a single patient with flashbacks and anxiety treated with 0.25 mg of Clonidine three times a day for two months 59.

• Tracers and trailing phenomena appear to be the most resistant symptoms.
• But that would generally happen only in someone who is predisposed to develop that mental disorder to begin with—it wouldn’t cause it.
• In contrast to the present study with LSD, the volunteers did not receive monetary compensation for participation.
• Of course, when the psychoma is strong and repeated in its nature, the possibility to determine a full-blown psychosis may become more concrete 93,94.
• Both involve visual disturbances that can last from minutes to years.

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the local ethics committee. All of the subjects provided written consent before participating in the study. A study found that couples who co-parent together display similar brain activity, suggesting they become greatly attuned to each other. Another hypothesis involves how LSD interacts with the brain’s visual processing center. Dr. Abraham proposed that HPPD may arise due to “disinhibition of visual processing related to a loss of serotonin receptors on inhibitory interneurons,” which may be caused by consuming LSD.

Studies show LSD (also called acid) is the most common hallucinogenic drug that can cause HPPD. LSD is a lab-made chemical that is in a class of drugs called psychedelics. In its pure state, it’s a white crystalline substance, but you only need a very small amount to feel the effects. People typically take the drug in sugar cubes or on small gelatin sheets that dissolve on the tongue. Given that reputable information on this topic is limited and oftentimes challenging to find, you may be left with more questions than answers.

In a 2016 paper, she and her colleagues describe intense imagery movements (IIM) as a subset of CMS. Like “islets of ability” in people with autism and reported advantages of ADHD, CMS may have a silver lining. “Most children said they liked their stereotypies,” he and his co-authors reported in hppd symptoms their 2010 paper, noting a positive connection to fantasy, daydreaming and visualization. Handling the symptoms “starts with awareness training,” said clinical psychologist Matt Edelstein, who conducts the CMS program at Kennedy Krieger.

Symptoms of LSD flashbacks

Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within Cureus. The patient admits he has symptoms of poor concentration, memory problems, sleeping difficulties, and is feeling isolated without a good support system. There are no prior psychiatric hospitalizations, and additional history was benign other than the incident he had seven months prior, after taking LSD.