Hough had low self-esteem and was driven to make money quickly to appear he had a "high social standing", a forensic psychologist told the court.
"What he was spending the money on, it was all going on designer clothes and flashy Airbnb apartments," Dr Michael Davis said.
"It was a caricature of what a successful person would be living like."
Hough had a mixed personality disorder with a poor sense of self, was "quite impulsive" and had some narcissistic traits, Davis said.
His copious cocaine use exacerbated his behaviour and at some points he was snorting the drug "every 40 minutes", the doctor said.
Hough had been using drugs since the age of 17 and dropped out of his Ballarat high school, his lawyer Raphael de Vietri told the court. He also briefly worked at a cemetery.
"He was playing the role of a rebel essentially," de Vietri explained.
The loss of his mother from a terminal lung condition while he was on remand had a profound impact on Hough, the lawyer said.
"She was always in his corner," de Vietri said.
Hough was mainly dealing to people he knew in Melbourne's party scene and at one point apologised to his buyers because his "stash van" was stolen.
"Hey boys and girls just letting you all know I'm back in the game with lsd and mdma at the moment more to follow," he texted to associates in October 2019.
His drug dealing was brought to an end after a joint taskforce investigation including officers from Australian Border Force, Victoria Police and Australia Post disrupted it.
Hough was using the dark web to buy drugs using cryptocurrency, but most of the packages went directly to his suburban home in Bentleigh East.
Drugs were disguised in packages containing a Metal Mekanic helicopter, were hidden in envelopes marked as "documents" and one shipment of MDMA crystals was disguised in the boardgame Tension.
He will be sentenced later this month.
