HPPD Bot: Survey and Support

Bright trails behind moving objects, a flickering "static" in front of the eyes, halos around lamps. When this lasts for weeks after taking a hallucinogen, a person is left alone with worrying questions. The HPPD bot is meant as a place to talk about such experience 🧠

At the moment it offers one scenario: a survey about motives for using psychoactive substances. Discussion happens in the linked community chat.

What HPPD is

The name stands for a persistent perception disorder after hallucinogens. Sometimes visual effects return, or never leave, after the substance has worn off.

People describe different things. Most often these are trails behind moving objects, bright flashes, flicker, light sensitivity and a "grainy" picture.

What the bot does

The only feature right now is the survey "Motives for drug use". It collects answers about why people start using substances at all and what drives them.

Such surveys help to understand real reasons: curiosity, anxiety, peer pressure, an attempt to cope with exhaustion. Without that, help is hard to design.

The bot does not treat anyone or make diagnoses. It is a tool for collecting data and a doorway to the community.

How to answer questions like these

The survey touches a personal topic. Answer honestly, but keep privacy in mind 🔐

• Leave out personal data. Name, address and documents are not needed for a survey.
• Do not post answers in open chats. Talk about substances where people do not know you.
• Remember the law. Countries punish possession and use very differently.

When you need a doctor

If visual distortions do not go away, interfere with life or come with anxiety, depression and insomnia, do not postpone a visit to a specialist. You can start with a general practitioner or an eye doctor to rule out other causes, then see a neurologist or psychiatrist.

Tell the doctor everything as it is, including substance use. A doctor needs the full picture to help.

A bot and a chat do not replace medical help, especially in sudden panic, thoughts of self-harm or loss of touch with reality. In those cases call the emergency service of your country 🚑

What not to do on your own

1. Do not try to fight it with new substances.
2. Do not take medication on advice from a chat without a doctor.
3. Do not sit for hours in front of a screen studying symptoms: it raises anxiety.
4. Do not isolate yourself, and tell people close to you how you feel.

Treatment decisions belong to a doctor alone. Folk remedies and internet advice without an examination can do harm 💬

If someone you trust is nearby, tell them how you feel. Support from close people lowers anxiety and helps you reach a specialist in time.

Parents of teenagers should know that a calm talk without blame works better than bans. A teenager who is not afraid to ask will talk about a problem more readily.

Who the bot is for

For people who have met HPPD or are interested in the topic, and for researchers of motives. It does not sell substances and gives no instructions for use.

If you came out of curiosity, stay with the survey and general information. Advice on doses and combinations is not what you should look for here, and it is not offered.