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obsessional thinking


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I'd say that my tendency to be an obsessional thinker, is a necessary factor for hppd to exist, for me.

Some people in the past have gone so far as to say that hppd is simply an obsessional thought itself, that it has no existence beyond that. I disagree because I did notice changes in my perception after my first couple experiences with LSD, before I became obsessed with the changes.

It wan't until later down the road, with further psychedelic use, that my visuals got worse, and then came this strong interlinking with obsessing about the perception. And, at this point is when I started to consider it a disorder. It was very difficult to not pay attention to the visuals.

So then , I tried this or that, whatever it may be, in some intentional effort to get rid of my hppd directly. In this process, I'd be more on the alert afterwards to notice if there are any improvements.

Well, in being in a state of looking for improvements, it's simply drawing more attention to the visuals, which can just intensify them more.

So I find the best approach is not to necessarily address the distortions directly. Although, there's nothing wrong with doing some things which may do that. But, the primary approach I find most useful is to simply find ways to direct my attention onto other things, and then automatically the visuals become less intensive over time, without conscious effort.

So then my recommendation to anyone experiencing intense hppd is to not simply try to get rid of your hppd directly. But focus more on finding ways to obsess less about it.

An interesting side note: is that most classic psychedelics, lsd, psilocybin, mescaline, mdma, etc. directly effect serotonin neurons. And, many psychiatrists believe that obsessive-compulsive disorder involves vulnerabilities in the serotonin system.

A hypothesis might then be that these psychedelics interacting with certain people who have this pre-existing vulnerability in the serotonin pathways, can be more likely to produce this 'locking onto' perceptual distortions, which then almost creates this looping type of thought process around the visuals, causing them to intensify to the point where you have a disorder.

Other people, who take the psychedelics, who don't have such a vulnerability, may develop the distortions, but are less likely to get stuck on the awareness of them, transitioning away from them with less effort, so the visuals fade quicker, which may partly explain why many people can take such drugs without developing severe hppd.

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  • 3 weeks later...

An interesting side note: is that most classic psychedelics, lsd, psilocybin, mescaline, mdma, etc. directly effect serotonin neurons. And, many psychiatrists believe that obsessive-compulsive disorder involves vulnerabilities in the serotonin system.

man this is interesting. i find i obsess about things a lot more these days. sometimes i even get really kind of paralysed with negative thoughts that i'm unable to shake. wonder if it is linked to serotonin or is purely psychological.

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man this is interesting. i find i obsess about things a lot more these days. sometimes i even get really kind of paralysed with negative thoughts that i'm unable to shake. wonder if it is linked to serotonin or is purely psychological.

Don't know, but if there's any advice I can give to new hppders; since having it myself for many years, I find it's better to find ways to not obsess about it then try to directly get rid of it, which in my experience usually tended to aggravate it more...

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this is really interesting :D but yeah i agreee i found my symptoms drastically improved the very first time i managed to stop myself obsessing and just power through what i was doing and IGNORE the symptoms instead of stare back at the wall every few seconds and not let myself think about anything else and panic. to be honest to a certain extent i believe that hppd could indeed just be an obsessive thought and nothing more, it is directly linked to the anxiety you feel at the time, and how much you think about it. although i think that to begin with at least something has to ACTUALLY be happening for you to start obsessing over it.

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I disagree. I my visual snow (don't have DR/DP type symptoms) is the same all the time whether I focus on it or not. Yes, like anything, if you look at it closer...it looks worse. Just like if I focus on the zit on my face it looks way worse than if I just glance at it. But I will say that since my visual symptoms started after a bad drug night, I have had obsessional thinking and not about HPPD. I have always had high anxiety and even paranoia even before ever doing drugs but the obsessional thinking is new for sure. There may be something there. I think our brain are in a kind of over drive and as such they are just really touchy and sensitive.

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  • 1 month later...

I agree with a lot of what Aztec has said. I don't think it's a purely psychological thing and the obsessional thinking (not just about hppd) but other stuff is far greater these days in my hppd state.

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  • 3 months later...

I think that 2cGotme has a point, though: In that, depending on the intensity of this disorder, it's virtually impossible to ignore very, very intense hallucinations. Nevertheless, there is merit to what Gill is saying if you are able to slowly crawl out of the quagmire that is HPPD. Acceptance of the symptoms of HPPD may or may not be your bag, but forgetting can be a good remedy, esp. in terms of panic and anxiety. I think, this is only for people who have had somewhat a remission from their usual intense distortions.

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