Flashbacks are something different from HPPD despite what many people may think. I know what you mean by having visuals when sober that grow in intensity while concentrating or staring (I have had them after frequent LSD use) and I'm pretty sure that falls under HPPD. Actually if you check the
HPPD thread you will find that there are a lot of people who only find it a little distracting but overall they like the touch of free psychedelia or even easier dissociation. Of course this doesn't hold true for everyone.
Flashbacks though, are strictly speaking not directly causal regarding psychedelic drugs. They are rooted in experiences in your life that are so intense that the memory of it is ingraved deeply into your mind. These experiences can be caused by serious accidents, witnessing of traumatic events and things of similar weight.
After that, when there is a trigger that bears an association with the memory you can get a flashback. The trigger is often a sensory stimulus like a smell, a sight or sound that is about identical to something within the intense memory. When you activate this memory by association you can relive the whole thing in various intensities as if you were there again to some extent. It's almost like a song that you can't get out of your head, if you hear a part of the melody you can automatically hear the rest of it clearly in your mind.
The association with psychedelic drugs is that they can occasionally be intense enough as to become these powerful memories and the same rules apply that can give you a flashback at any time henceforth.
I've had one once, the trigger was a song, the experience was my most intense trip ever the second time I tripped (on mushrooms) and had a mystical experience. Since then I've tripped many hundreds of times but none were strongeror more life-changing.
The flashback lasted for 5 minutes and was not unpleasant, it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before though and pretty intense.
so i fell in love with mushrooms a few months back and did them way to much
there was a point where i shroomed 8 times within 8 days.
now its been about a month since i shroomed but every now and then i'll have subtle visuals, like i'll be reading a book and the words will start creeping to the left and things similair to that.
should i be worried?
In all probability you don't have to be worried but if you don't want to effect to become stronger or more persistent you should really cut back or stop with tripping for a while. I don't know the numbers but in most cases after a while it should then decrease. I never really worried about it even though it is a sign that I've been tripping too much, but now that I don't trip as frequently it went away a bit. I don't mind, it's kind of nice if you get used to it. I can understand that people could freak out and think in terms of what they see and what they 'should be seeing' i.e. everything clear and undistorted. If my HPPD would be so that it would impair my sight or judgment I really would not like it, but I can understand the world just fine through these slightly trippy goggles.
it used to bother me but doesn't anymore, its like normal
