Snapshot · The Louis Theroux Podcast
Callaghan developed hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) after taking psilocybin mushrooms at age 14, causing permanent visual snow in his field of vision.
Where this was said
At 1:14:34 · chapter starts 1:14:22
One of the episode's most unexpected moments arrives when Theroux mentions Callaghan's medical condition. HPPD — hallucinogen persisting perception disorder — developed after Callaghan took half an eighth of psilocybin mushrooms at age fourteen [1] — Andrew Callaghan "HPPD from shrooms at age 14: Callaghan developed hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) after taking psilocybin mushrooms at ag…" 1:14:34 . He is careful to note that it wasn't the dosage (a regular amount by adult standards) but the age: psychedelics should not be taken before the brain has fully developed. The result, he tells Theroux, is that he currently sees visual static — like a television with no signal — across his entire visual field, even as they are sitting in the Spotify studio. He has had this for fifteen years; he is now twenty-nine. It has not diminished. He no longer notices it most of the time, but for the five or six years after it developed it was a daily nightmare. He describes trying every experimental remedy available online, and turning to alcohol at fifteen — because drinking helped suppress the visual noise more than anything else — a detail that recontextualises his earlier references to heavy drinking.
At 14, Andrew Callaghan took half an eighth of mushrooms — a standard dose — but at the wrong age. His brain wasn't developed enough. Fifteen years on, he still sees visual snow across his entire field of vision at every waking moment. It's not diminishing. He's just learned to forget it's there.
Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson analyzed almost 500 self-improvement techniques and found they all reduce to just 12 underlying psychological drivers.
Cold exposure has good short-term alertness benefits but the evidence base for long-term health benefits is much weaker than popularly believed.
In a randomized study of 20 habit-formation techniques run on hundreds of people, almost none of the techniques produced statistically meaningful results.
People given a tiny-habit fallback option (e.g. 10 squats instead of gym) were actually MORE successful at completing the full habit, not less.
The most effective habit-formation technique was 'habit reflection' — recalling a past successful habit, writing down what helped, then applying those lessons to a new habit.
A study found that simply scheduling enjoyable activities was as effective as standard cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, leading to its own therapy called behavioral activation.
The 'worry time' technique — deferring all worries to a designated time of day — helps people realize they have more control over worry than they thought and reveals it is less useful than it feels.
A study found that participants told to try to stay awake while in bed fell asleep faster than participants told to try to sleep — illustrating the paradox of direct effort.
Spencer Greenberg reduced his severe social anxiety dramatically in roughly 6 months through a structured exposure therapy hierarchy, culminating in asking strangers for hugs.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.