HPPD is a diagnosis in which perceptual symptoms first felt during hallucinogen intoxication, such as geometric patterns, haloes, trails or afterimages, come back or continue after the drug has worn off. As quoted in a 2017 systematic review, the DSM-5 criteria also require clinically significant distress or impairment and no better medical or psychiatric explanation (Orsolini et al., 2017).
The label has shifted: the same review traces it to “Post-hallucinogen Perception Disorder” in the 1987 DSM-III-R (Orsolini et al., 2017). A review of 20 quantitative studies from 1955 to 2001 concluded that HPPD appears real but uncommon and is most often linked to illicit LSD (Halpern and Pope, 200300306-x)). Psilocybin is on reviewers’ lists of implicated substances, but a 2018 review says prevalence is unknown (Martinotti et al., 2018).
Some authors split HPPD into Type 1 (brief and benign) and Type 2 (lasting and impairing); the 2018 review calls the split hypothetical and notes that DSM-5 does not use it (Martinotti et al., 2018). A brief echo of a trip is not by itself HPPD. Only a clinician can assess lasting symptoms; this is not medical advice.
General information, not medical advice. In an emergency in Canada, call 911. For a mental-health crisis, call or text 9-8-8.
Sources
- Orsolini et al. (2017), The ‘Endless Trip’ among the NPS users
- Halpern and Pope (2003), Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder: what do we know after 50 years?
- Martinotti et al. (2018), Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder
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