I also work significantly around the neglected side-effects of psychedelics, which are generally under-researched following the blackout that surrounded the drugs since the 1970s (the same blackout that, advocates suggest, forestalled on investigations of their benefits). One of them, and my main focus, is Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD), in which users from as little as one trip (we've little concrete idea of the risk factors in patterns of use) develop long-lasting, and possibly permanent, aberrations in visual perception, including static overlays, flashing lights, illusions of movement, bursts of colour, geometric patterns, and other phenomena well after the drug wears off. The clinical diagnosis of HPPD, which is given when these symptoms create distress, may affect as many as 1 in 25, though the prevalence is unknown.
I work for a charity that promotes research and harm reduction into HPPD called the Perception Restoration Foundation (PRF). You might like to read about us here: perception.foundation
Thank you Ed. I've never heard of such a disorder. Presumably you have scoured the side-effects and adverse events of the trials underway in this area?
I am aware of a couple of incidents. I can email the details if you like. I think HPPD will be a particular issue when screening is less stringent and oversight is generally stretched as the therapies scale to mass populations, not least with the likely inflation we'll see in diagnostic candidates for psychedelic therapy. We don't know very much at all about risk factors for the condition, so it is a bit of a minefield.
With HPPD, I am most concerned about grey-market therapy and naturalistic use, especially among adolescents, who may be led to believe increasingly that psychedelics are drugs with purely positive effects.
Email me. Full name as one word, @economist.com. I think your instinct is correct that this is under reported and discussed. I’ve been reading, writing and interviewing on this topic for some time now an I’ve not heard of it.
LSD was discovered in the 1950s, and psilocybin became known to the West in the 1960s. Millions of people have decades of experience with these drugs. Only a fraction of these users were dealing with a mood or anxiety disorder at the time of use, but as a society we have had plenty of experience to "stumble" on any significant benefits of these substances beyond their entertainment value in well-balanced people. Yet, with the current buzz around these drugs, one would think they were newly discovered. Cocaine and opioids have also had cycles of enthusiasm and suppression that suggest our cultural memory of "what could go wrong" is short.
Hi Natasha - I really appreciate this commentary. I discussed the Davos interest in the drugs for Unherd last summer and I have another article due out soon with them: https://unherd.com/2022/07/the-psychedelic-utopia-is-a-lie/
I also work significantly around the neglected side-effects of psychedelics, which are generally under-researched following the blackout that surrounded the drugs since the 1970s (the same blackout that, advocates suggest, forestalled on investigations of their benefits). One of them, and my main focus, is Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD), in which users from as little as one trip (we've little concrete idea of the risk factors in patterns of use) develop long-lasting, and possibly permanent, aberrations in visual perception, including static overlays, flashing lights, illusions of movement, bursts of colour, geometric patterns, and other phenomena well after the drug wears off. The clinical diagnosis of HPPD, which is given when these symptoms create distress, may affect as many as 1 in 25, though the prevalence is unknown.
I work for a charity that promotes research and harm reduction into HPPD called the Perception Restoration Foundation (PRF). You might like to read about us here: perception.foundation
Thanks for your time.
Ed
Thank you Ed. I've never heard of such a disorder. Presumably you have scoured the side-effects and adverse events of the trials underway in this area?
I am aware of a couple of incidents. I can email the details if you like. I think HPPD will be a particular issue when screening is less stringent and oversight is generally stretched as the therapies scale to mass populations, not least with the likely inflation we'll see in diagnostic candidates for psychedelic therapy. We don't know very much at all about risk factors for the condition, so it is a bit of a minefield.
With HPPD, I am most concerned about grey-market therapy and naturalistic use, especially among adolescents, who may be led to believe increasingly that psychedelics are drugs with purely positive effects.
Email me. Full name as one word, @economist.com. I think your instinct is correct that this is under reported and discussed. I’ve been reading, writing and interviewing on this topic for some time now an I’ve not heard of it.
LSD was discovered in the 1950s, and psilocybin became known to the West in the 1960s. Millions of people have decades of experience with these drugs. Only a fraction of these users were dealing with a mood or anxiety disorder at the time of use, but as a society we have had plenty of experience to "stumble" on any significant benefits of these substances beyond their entertainment value in well-balanced people. Yet, with the current buzz around these drugs, one would think they were newly discovered. Cocaine and opioids have also had cycles of enthusiasm and suppression that suggest our cultural memory of "what could go wrong" is short.