Why is HPPD often comorbid with anxiety/DP/depression?

[LethargicAcid]

Why?

 

 

is the anxiety directly related to the visuals? If so, then simply accepting the visuals would be the answer. Not saying that is easy.

 

or is the anxiety due to deep subconscious instabilities(trauma) that happened during the trip that started HPPD?

I mean, did the trip that activated HPPD open the mind to uncomfortable levels? (i made a post about this, theorizing that this is some type of PTSD) 

 

 

Either way, it seems like a type of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder

 

 

 

I do not think that this is some sort of brain damage. and I certainly hope not. anxiety/DP is not a symptom of brain damage

 

 

I know people with HPPD who do not have cognitive illnesses. 

 

I think that the "cure" to this is to face the underlying anxiety that we are dissociated  from.

 

 

 

 

Questions: was the drug experience that activated HPPD a "bad" trip that opened memories that were too much to bear? 

 

do u think that the anxiety is directly related to the visuals? some type of PTSD in which we cannot escape from the visuals so we dissociate because we're scared? 

-if so, then therapy/meditation would be the plausible cure.

[Jay1]

Like I asked on the other post you have made... What about the people who get this from SSRIs? MDMA?

 

Seems less likely they had a trauma and more likely that increased serotonin and dopamine caused some neurological issue. HPPD shows up on qEEG scans, which also suggests a neurological issue.

 

We will probably never know, so it is good to theorise and I am sure PTSD treatment would be a benefit to most here, even if it is not the root cause. Stopping the anxiety loop would be great.

 

Personally, the pain from my hppd is so physical, as well as mental, that it is nigh on impossible to ignore it for even a split second. The idea of thinking away that kind of physical pain just seems a million miles away.

[LethargicAcid]

4 of my friends have HPPD without anxiety though ...... I was calling them freaking out while they were like "dude chill out its not even bad"

 

plus they smoke every day and continue to trip frequently.

 

 

 

 

I have HPPD but the visuals are not debilitating, the anxiety-based problems like DP are the "problem". i guess numbness is a problem. But i get anxious every time i see a visual so maybe thats like a PTSD flashback.

[LethargicAcid]

question: could this  HPPD be a mental breakdown of sorts resulting from drug use? a mental breakdown of the subconscious that we arent conscious of while sober?

[Jay1]

I guess it depends what you want to bundle in with the HPPD tag....

 

I had some form of VS and warping visions since I was 14 and took my first lsd tab, but it had zero effects on my mental wellbeing, if anything... I enjoyed it and would have had no issue living the rest of my life like that.

 

I do feel like I had some kind of mental breakdown around the age of 17/18 though, when too many drugs (mainly MDMA) just got the better of me.

 

I've always maintained that we (HPPD sufferers) probably put all over problems/disorders in the bracket of HPPD, which is probably an unwise thing to do... Who is to say that the deep mental illness I feel has anything to do with hppd, maybe the visuals are just an extra layer to a far deeper problem that was caused by, say, the MDMA? What is for sure is that there is a whole spectrum of people on this forum who have various severities of the symptoms we class as hppd (I get almost zero brain fog, for instance). There is every chance that some of us have neurological issues, while others have PTSD (or both).

 

I think getting to the root of the stress/anxiety would help everyone though. It is the fuel that keeps the fire going.

[LethargicAcid]

Obviously, the root of the stress/anxiety is very deep in the subconscious. 

 

Theory: seratonin-based drugs are what seem to cause this shit. 

So I guess seratonin lets us go deep within ourselves? So its hard to access those memories while sober.

 

 

In my opinion, the "Drug-Induced Mental Breakdown PTSD HPPD" theory seems like the most possible thing that we all(ones who are traumatized) suffer from.

   I should make a post about this. And get peoples experience and opinions to see if this is the answer. I am gonna go meditate right now but I will later hopefully. Thanks Jay 

[leelalala]

I think HPPD and anxiety disorders are seperate things actually.

Some of us get traumatized by the experiences, some aren't. When you read this forum, it seems like HPPD and anxiety/dp-dr goes together, but that's because only the ones experiencing that kind of difficulties end up on this forum, searching for a cure...

On the other hand, I believe people with some mental disorders are more prone to getting HPPD. When your brain chemistry is already a bit unstable (even if you aren't aware of it), drugs are more likely to make it even more unstable.

For example, I've had adverse reactions to seratonin based drugs way before HPPD. After 2-3 years of experimenting with drugs, I started to have panic attacks with most of them, so I didn't take much for 4-5 years in between. SSRI's never worked for me, but when I took SNRI's (acts on norepinephrine) all the panic attacks were gone, and I started taking much heavier stuff. And I got HPPD because of shrooms after I stopped taking SNRI's.

 

We all have different chemistries, so I'm not sure if it's possible to make generalizations...