First Reddit Community-Led Scientific Study to Launch on Quantified Citizen
Study will investigate possible links between Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder and anxiety.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, August 8, 2022 (Newswire.com) - Subreddit r/HPPD, an online community that provides support for and resources about Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD), announced its very first retrospective, observational study in partnership with scientific research app Quantified Citizen (QC). The study, "Anxiety and Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, Can You See It?," investigates possible connections between anxiety and HPPD, as well as HPPD symptom clusters and current substance use. Substances include alcohol, nicotine, psychedelics and other non-psychedelic drugs.
HPPD is an understudied disorder with psychiatric, psychological, and neurological symptoms reported by a subset of people who have taken psychedelics. Symptoms of HPPD alter everyday perception and may cause significant distress. Among these symptoms are Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS), perceiving the size of an object larger or smaller than it objectively is, apparent shifts in the hue of a given item, a glow or coloured shine around objects, switching of colours and seeing light fractals and trails. Conditions like epilepsy, migraine with aura, manic episodes, and anxiety disorders have also been associated with HPPD. Sufferers have reported symptoms lasting anywhere from months to several years. A U.K. study has examined the case of a man who has had HPPD for 25 years.
r/HPPD moderator and study lead Sophia Alcala provided the research focus, drawing from observations of community members frequently discussing experiencing anxiety with HPPD. Alcala also provided insight on research design. "I wanted to partner with Quantified Citizen in order to figure out how anxiety relates to HPPD symptoms reported by our members. I've noticed that anxiety seems to worsen our member's HPPD, and it would be helpful if we could find out more about it and other factors that may relate to HPPD symptoms' worsening or improvement," notes Sophia Alcala.
The study will target r/HPPD community members but will also be open to anybody who has or has had HPPD. Participants can join by downloading the Quantified Citizen app available on iOS and Android.
"With this community-led study, we hope to help shed light on this understudied disorder that can be quite debilitating. We hope that the personalized insights shared with participants at the end of this study will help daylight links between HPPD and certain disorders or substances so that folks can make more informed decisions moving forward," shares QC psychedelic researcher Sarah Paschall, MSc.
Quantified Citizen is a citizen science-powered health research app. It has a growing library of studies on interventions, techniques and emerging trends.
To fuel further growth and development of new study capabilities, Quantified Citizen is currently in the process of raising its Seed+ round of funding.
Press Contact: Nikki Paqueo, Product Marketing Manager
marketing@quantifiedcitizen.com, +1-604-800-2911
Investor Contact: Eesmyal Santos-Brault, Co-founder & CEO
invest@quantifiedcitizen.com, +1-604-800-2911
Source: Quantified Citizen
