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| <center> ''“I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I must have been changed several times since then.”'' - Lewis Caroll/Alice in Wonderland
| | The main page for this category is [[Psychedelic]] |
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| <div style="text-align:left;"> This group of compounds is one of the most well known, well researched, and controversial group of compounds. They have inspired interest across such broad range of disciplines, from chemistry, psychology, ecology to philosophy and the arts.[120] This may have been what allowed them to have such a significant impact on Western culture in the 1960s and further on human perceptions and values.[120][122] Spawning new music, art, and quite even a new way of thinking and living.[120] They may even be the source of mankind’s deepest and most persistent yearning to find answers to cosmic questions.[122] Timothy Leary has a great way of introducing them in LSD: The Consciousness-Expanding Drug:
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| | ===See Also=== |
| | * [[Responsible Use]] |
| | * [[Dissociative]] |
| | * [[Deliriant]] |
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| <center> ''“These foods and drugs have always been shrouded in mystery, misunderstanding and controversy because they produce that most sought-after and yet most dread experience known to man. They produce ecstasy.”'' - Timothy Leary
| | == References == |
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| <div style="text-align:left;"> Psychedelics are the class of drugs I personally have the most interest in due to their consciousness expanding capabilities and culture. I have had experience with these substances since I was eighteen and have been researching them ever since. My first experience consisted of talking about 2.0g of psilocybin mushrooms. Even since I started taking these compounds there has been a significant change in how these substances are viewed by the general public and scientific community. We are just getting back into psychedelic research that was halted in the 1960s, and it is producing amazing results!
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| They are one of three categories of hallucinogens, with the others being dissociatives and deliriants.[53] Psychedelics are generally considered physiologically safer than most other groups and as of recently are experiencing decriminalization or even legalization in some areas.[43] There has also been a “Psychedelic Renaissance” with an increase in scientific research that was stalled during the 1970s that is finding that psychedelics may have a strong potential to be useful in treating a variety of psychological disorders.
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| Generally, psychedelics are defined as serotonergic hallucinogens (specifically the 5-HT2A receptor) that alter perception and mood in a marked novel way along while affecting numerous cognitive processes.[43][50] More concretely the “classical psychedelics” all share agonist actions at the serotonin 2A receptor subtype (5-HT2A).[120] This class contains a wide variety of compounds and has some well known drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms and DMT, with LSD being the archetypal psychedelic in modern Western society.[4] This is due to LSD having the “highest and most specific effect” while also being the basis of the contemporary concept of psychedelics and the far-out social movement.[122] Many psychedelics can be found naturally in fungi, plants, and even some animals.[82] Although, some of the compounds have a long history of human usage and some of the most in-depth scientific research, others have been synthesized rather recently and have little to no human usage. This section will specifically focus on psychedelics and will consider cannabinoids, dissociatives, entactogens, and deliriants in separate sections.
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| The term ‘psychedelic' itself has an interesting history. It was coined by psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond in a letter he wrote to Aldous Huxley and presented to the New York Academy of Sciences in 1965 .[4][43][46][107[ This was in regards to the insightful effects that often occurred from psychedelics during treatment for addiction.[64] The word ‘psychedelic’ is a neologism derived from the ancient Greek words psych"e (jycή, translated as “soul” or “mind”) and d"elein (dhlεin, translated as “to reveal'' or “to manifest”) to denote ‘mind-revealing’.[2][4][46][50][121] Prior to Osmond there were a variety of terms used to describe these substances such as: psychotomimetics (implying psychosis), psychotogens, psychodysleptics, deliriants, hallucinogens and mind-expanding drugs, however many of these carry negative connotations.[27][43] For example, Psychotomimetics, a negative term suggesting that they fostered a mental state resembling psychosis, used to be the preferred term in scientific literature.[43] Later, when it was realized that these substances did not provide a model for psychosis, it became correct to refer to them as hallucinogens suggesting that they principally produce hallucinations.[43] However, this is not particularly descriptive or useful since hallucinations are not always produced, along with it describing a too broad category of psychoactive molecules.[43] In a recent paper David E. Nichols described the history:
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| <center> ''"Many different names have been proposed over the years for this drug class. The famous German toxicologist Louis Lewin used the name phantastica earlier in this century, and as we shall see later, such a descriptor is not so farfetched. The most popular names—hallucinogen, psychotomimetic, and psychedelic ("mind manifesting")—have often been used interchangeably. Hallucinogen is now, however, the most common designation in the scientific literature, although it is an inaccurate descriptor of the actual effects of these drugs. In the lay press, the term psychedelic is still the most popular and has held sway for nearly four decades. Most recently, there has been a movement in nonscientific circles to recognize the ability of these substances to provoke mystical experiences and evoke feelings of spiritual significance. Thus, the term entheogen, derived from the Greek word entheos, which means "god within", was introduced by Ruck et al. and has seen increasing use. This term suggests that these substances reveal or allow a connection to the "divine within."''[46] | |
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| <div style="text-align:left;"> The term Psychedelic has been popular among the lay public for more than 5 decades (championed by Timothy Leary), however it had generally been frowned upon in scientific literature because it implies that these substances have useful properties.[46][43] This aversion has decreased recently due to new research showing the benefits of psychedelics. Recently the term enteogen (meaning “that produces the divine within) has become popular to denote psychoactive substances in a religious or spiritual sense.[46] In this paper the term Entheogen will be used as a subclass of psychedelics. The diversity in terminology reflects the existence of hundreds of potential psychedelic compounds with a spectrum of behavioral and neurobiological effects.[82] Overall, Psychedelic being defined as "mind-manifesting," although somewhat vague, carries a less restrictive connotation, and for that reason is the preferred term in this paper.[27] The term includes all substances that have an agonist or partial agonist effect at brain serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, such as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin.[121]
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