Psychedelic aftereffects may offer a window into psychotic symptoms

AI Summary

A 25-year-old man experienced vivid visual phenomena while falling asleep and worried they might signal psychosis, despite not having psychosis or using drugs at the time. He had previously taken psychedelics and contacted Yale medical researcher Max Greenwald to ask whether the aftereffects could be related to psychotic symptoms.

Every night, as he fell asleep, a 25-year-old man saw an eye in his ceiling. It was huge and unblinking, and it felt as if the whole world was being sucked into it. He didn't have psychosis, and he wasn't on drugs. But he had taken psychedelics in the past, and he was worried enough to contact Max Greenwald, an M.D.-Ph.D. student at Yale School of Medicine, with a question: Was he developing psychosis?