Psychedelics, Social Media & Scientific Research: A Partnership To Study Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder And Anxiety

The Online community providing support for and resources about Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD), “Subreddit r/HPPD”, has partnered with scientific health research app “Quantified Citizen” to launch a retrospective, observational study on possible existent links between anxiety and HPPD, HPPD symptom clusters and current substance use -including alcohol, nicotine, psychedelics and non-psychedelic drugs.

The research focus was drawn from frequent discussions among community members on experiencing anxiety with HPPD. The community’s moderator and study lead Sophia Alcala also provided insight on research design, proposing to partner with Quantified Citizen “in order to figure out how anxiety relates to HPPD symptoms reported by our members.” 

“I've noticed that anxiety seems to worsen our member's HPPD, and it would be helpful if we could find out more about it and other factors that may relate to HPPD symptoms' worsening or improvement," Alcala further stated.

Quantified Citizen psychedelics researcher Sarah Paschall, MSc., commented: "With this community-led study, we hope to help shed light on this understudied disorder that can be quite debilitating. We hope that the personalized insights shared with participants at the end of this study will help daylight links between HPPD and certain disorders or substances so that folks can make more informed decisions moving forward."

The study is then set to target the Subreddit r/HPPD community members. Nonetheless, it will also remain open to anyone currently experiencing or having experienced HPPD. In order to join, interested parties must download the Quantified Citizen app.

What Is HPPD? 

The Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder is an understudied condition with psychiatric, psychological and neurological symptoms reported by a subset of people who have taken psychedelics. 

Its symptoms alter quotidian perception and can cause significant distress, the list including Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS) or the modified perception of the size of an object, apparent shifts in an item’s aspect, a glow or coloured shine around objects, color-switching and seeing light fractals and trails. 

Furthermore, conditions like epilepsy, migraine with aura, manic episodes and anxiety disorders have also been associated with HPPD, with reported symptoms lasting from months to years.