Mind-Altering Drugs, HPPD, and Mental Illness?

[mgrade]

It is a fact that some people have taken drugs such as LSD, and have become schizophrenic, bipolar, etc. Perhaps these disorders were only latent before the hallucinogen use. But Can a person who doesn't seem to have a predisposition to mental illness, in terms of personality and/or genetics, acquire these sorts of disorders after, long-term or short-term, the use of hallucinogens?

And how much does worry, helplessness, anxiety, panic, "mania", and the lose in fulfillment of the first few steps on Maslow's pyramid, affect the onset of these disorders (esp. after such drug use)?

For instance, perhaps some of these homeless people with schizophrenia would have been in better shape today had there been food, shelter, help, support etc. now and in the past.

Tell me what you think.

HPPD can't just be a visual disorder; Can't HPPD be so bad (lasting for many, many years) that schizophrenia and HDDP are indistinguishable??

It's not like their are urine tests used as a measure of diagnosis.

[Monkey_magic]

I wish you could just pee into a test tube and it told you what was up mentally. Scientists should get their finger out.

[ferret]

The differece is with HPPD you realize something is wrong and have pseudo-halucinations while with schitzophrenia you have delusions and actual hallucinations (not connected to sleep like mine).

[Gmo]

I think you should go on youtube and try and look up some people who are schizo.....there's a pretty solid difference. I think in a visual sense we might experience SOME similar things but I don't think it's to the degree of a schizo person.

[2muchmandy]

Nowhere neeeeaaar schizos man. Schizos will have full on conversations/relationships with people who dont exist have " episodes " that they dont know theyr having, and are totally unaware of there being issues. HPPDers like myself and the most part know wer mental, but we realise we have " manic " or stupid patches and thoughts and the stuff wer going through is not normal. Infact the thought of being classes in the same grouping makes me feel a little ill, schizophrenia is a big and scary word

[mgrade]

Schizophrenia does not have to include voices/auditory hallucinations. Also HPPD, in my experience, can include periods of "manic"/hyperactive behavior as well as periods of depression. And based on my own experience, ADD is made much worse. Clinically, I am not bipolar or a schizophrenic, but I have ADD. 2muchMandy, I agree that stigma does make me ill too. But when you come to terms with the reality of the situation and face things head-on, there are a lot of grey areas between these disorders, whether it's HPPD, schizophrenia (and the similar), bipolar, ADD, depression, general anxiety, panic, and brain injury.

[Monkey_magic]

Yeah. I agree mgrade. I've had periods of slight manic/hyperactive behaviour and depression which if not being true bipolar is certainly its little brother. It's very cyclical.

[2muchmandy]

i think the word schizophrenia scares the shit outta me. i reckon its probably linked atleast to bi polar...infact i actually often refer to it as visual bi polar ( my symptoms fluctuate )

[Monkey_magic]

I can have a month or two of pretty big depression and then come outta that for two weeks flying with loads of energy and talking and thinking ten to the dozen. Allthough my confidence goes up too I never get to a manic 'i am god' level. More a 'I am a Demi god level'. Haha. Not had a high for ages. I miss them. I think whatever your unlocked mental illness is, hppd just opens the door for it to allow it to come out. Schizophrenia makes me shudder too but least hppd let's us be in control of our own actions still.

[2muchmandy]

See iv never really had that. I kina see hppd as like " why not consolodate all your slightly weak points and mental niggles into one large at times un manageable payment " if u get me. Iv always had depressive phases, slight OCD and anxiety, hppd has just put them all on crack and here i am. But as you say, wer in control

[Monkey_magic]

Yeah. I get what you mean. Same with me. Pre hppd, I was always quite introverted, sensitive, tendency to bottle things up, probably to a fair depersonalisation degree even years before it hit me. And in the normal world the more i felt my ego loss the more i tried to grab it back with drugs which i felt allowed me to be the extroverted dude i had in me. I'd always on the outside looked awright but I buried shit deep down where obviously the hppd rubbed its hands and went 'yass we can have a field day with this fucker'..a treasure trove of neurosis to work with. But that's for a phych to decipher cos I sure as hell can't. Maybe hypnosis would unlock some shit. Where's that Paul McKenna dude?

[2muchmandy]

Yeah me too man, always quiet and shy kid who did well in school, moved from edinburgh to aberdeenshire, typical mad at my parents alcohol, partying ensued, i discovered babyshambles and pete doherty, quickly substituted my depression for booze. Then i got heavily into drum n bass and so came the ecstacy and mdma and all that shit :/

Iv had hypnosis for my fear of dogs as a wee lad and it worked wonders, still nervous but compared to before. The only issue id worry is that jay pointed out maybe you could worsen things by having ur brain wired to focus souly on the symptoms

[ferret]

If my symptoms were any worse I would definately see a hypnotist but they've been so manageable for a while that I don't think I need too.

Honnestly i feel like being schitzophrenic would basically be the same as dying, either to be completely insane and not myself, or on anti-psychotics and not myself. It scares the shit out of me.

[Conquer]

Interesting question. I'm guessing you already scoured the internet for related-research papers and found nothing. In that case you're limited to anecdotal reports from others. I've never heard of anyone getting these disorders with no family history of them. Honestly I don't think you have any cause for concern.

[mgrade]

I think that anyone can be broken, given the amount of torture one endures.

[miketusa]

My first "trip' was on diphenhydramine and that literally gives you a taste of insanity. It is like a waking dream, in which you converse with imaginary people, and see imaginary things. Trick is, youre positive it is all real. I remember thinking it was day out, and that I had to go to school when it was like 3 in the morning. It was utterly insane, of course youre so out of it you cant even really freak out in any way, and once its over, its over. But id say it was definitively a psychotic episode induced by the drug, and much less of a trip. Ironically I didnt have any signs of HPPD after that one. Trust me, we are far from crazy.

[mgrade]

That's interesting. Damn! Good thing you came outta that one unscathed. ....I hope you are right, for the good of all of us. ..........Like 10-12 years ago, i used to do LSD. I kinda got tipped off as to how much LSD I was on that gave me this HP...........Does 1 to 1.5 mg sound like a massive amount?? (I know, usually these things should be in mics)

[ferret]

I had conversations with people who weren't there from just shrooms. But I took over an eigth my first time. That isn't something to be worried about is it?

[2muchmandy]

I had conversations with people who weren't there from just shrooms. But I took over an eigth my first time. That isn't something to be worried about is it?

i had a thing where i could hear voices as i was going to sleep last night. just a typical symtom of hypogogic hallucination though i think

and yeah thats an absolute bollock load of LSD, an acid tab is usually like 150 MICROgrams

[morbide]

I read a study about people who talks with themselves, a doct.or said that such behaviour is a sign of intelligence. Man i gotta be the einstein of my generation

[Sam]

HPPD doesn't give you auditory hallucinations or delusions. It's just a disturbance of sensory gating in vision. It has nothing to do with schizophrenia. Also, the visual hallucinations are composed of patterns on surfaces, visual snow, and after images. However schizophrenics usually have more vivid and abstract hallucinations such as seeing and hearing people.

[mgrade]

I agree...........but I know people who have acquired mental illnesses (pre-drug latency) after drug use. The thing is: is that all these things are not concrete but certainly nebulous. While I have never experienced a schizophrenic's hallucinations, I would guess that I am not in any position to judge one hallucination from the other because all I know is what I have observed in my experiences. The "perpetual flashback phenomena" are not all the same for every person inflicted and may include one or all the symtoms (and more).