Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD, is a potent psychedelic drug that intensifies thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. Often referred to as acid or lucy, LSD can cause mystical, spiritual, or religious experiences. At higher doses, it primarily induces visual and auditory hallucinations. While LSD does not cause physical addiction, it can lead to adverse psychological reactions, such as anxiety, paranoia, and delusions. Additionally, it may trigger "flashbacks," also known as hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, where individuals experience persistent visual distortions after use.
Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), and formerly sold under the brand name Indocybin, is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi. Psilocybin is itself biologically inactive but is quickly converted by the body to psilocin, which has mind-altering effects similar, in some aspects, to those of other classical psychedelics. Effects include euphoria, visual and mental hallucinations, changes in perception, a distorted sense of time, and perceived spiritual experiences. It can also cause adverse reactions such as nausea and panic attacks.
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic hallucinogens or serotonergic hallucinogens, the term psychedelic is sometimes used more broadly to include various types of hallucinogens, such as those which are atypical or adjacent to psychedelia like salvia and MDMA, respectively.
Haloperidol, sold under the brand name Haldol among others, is a typical antipsychotic medication. Haloperidol is used in the treatment of schizophrenia, tics in Tourette syndrome, mania in bipolar disorder, delirium, agitation, acute psychosis, and hallucinations from alcohol withdrawal. It may be used by mouth or injection into a muscle or a vein. Haloperidol typically works within 30 to 60 minutes. A long-acting formulation may be used as an injection every four weeks for people with schizophrenia or related illnesses, who either forget or refuse to take the medication by mouth.
An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called an altered state of mind, altered mental status (AMS) or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. It describes induced changes in one's mental state, almost always temporary. A synonymous phrase is "altered state of awareness".
Stanislav "Stan" Grof is an American psychiatrist. Grof is one of the principal developers of transpersonal psychology and research into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of psychological healing, deep self-exploration, and obtaining growth and insights into the human psyche.
A trip sitter—sometimes known as a sober sitter, spotter, or co-pilot—is a term used by recreational or spiritual drug users to describe a person who remains sober to ensure the safety of the drug user while they are under the influence of a drug; they are especially common with first-time experiences or when using psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants. This practice can be seen as a means of harm reduction.
Psychedelic therapy refers to the proposed use of psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, ayahuasca, LSD, psilocin, mescaline (peyote), DMT, 5-MeO-DMT,Ibogaine,MDMA, to treat mental disorders. As of 2021, psychedelic drugs are controlled substances in most countries and psychedelic therapy is not legally available outside clinical trials, with some exceptions.
Set and setting, when referring to a psychedelic drug experience or the use of other psychoactive substances, means one's mindset and the physical and social environment in which the user has the experience. Set and setting are factors that can condition the effects of psychoactive substances: "Set" refers to the mental state a person brings to the experience, like thoughts, mood and expectations; "setting" to the physical and social environment. This is especially relevant for psychedelic experiences in either a therapeutic or recreational context.
A psychedelic experience is a temporary altered state of consciousness induced by the consumption of a psychedelic substance. For example, an acid trip is a psychedelic experience brought on by the use of LSD, while a mushroom trip is a psychedelic experience brought on by the use of psilocybin. Psychedelic experiences feature alterations in normal perception such as visual distortions and a subjective loss of self-identity, sometimes interpreted as mystical experiences. Psychedelic experiences lack predictability, as they can range from being highly pleasurable to frightening. The outcome of a psychedelic experience is heavily influenced by the person's mood, personality, expectations, and environment.
Rick Strassman is an American clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He has held a fellowship in clinical psychopharmacology research at the University of California San Diego and was Professor of Psychiatry for eleven years at the University of New Mexico. After 20 years of intermission, Strassman was the first person in the United States to undertake human research with psychedelic, hallucinogenic, or entheogenic substances with his research on N,N-dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT. He is also the author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, which summarizes his academic research into DMT and other experimental studies of it, and includes his own reflections and conclusions based on this research.
Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is a non-psychotic disorder in which a person experiences apparent lasting or persistent visual hallucinations or perceptual distortions after using drugs, including but not limited to psychedelics, dissociatives, entactogens, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and SSRIs. Despite being designated as a hallucinogen-specific disorder, the specific contributory role of psychedelic drugs is unknown.
Emergency psychiatry is the clinical application of psychiatry in emergency settings. Conditions requiring psychiatric interventions may include attempted suicide, substance abuse, depression, psychosis, violence or other rapid changes in behavior.
Ego death is a "complete loss of subjective self-identity". The term is used in various intertwined contexts, with related meanings. The 19th-century philosopher and psychologist William James uses the synonymous term "self-surrender," and Jungian psychology uses the synonymous term psychic death, referring to a fundamental transformation of the psyche. In death and rebirth mythology, ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition, as described later by Joseph Campbell in his research on the mythology of the Hero's Journey. It is a recurrent theme in world mythology and is also used as a metaphor in some strands of contemporary western thinking.
Hallucinogens are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorized as either being psychedelics, dissociatives, or deliriants.
LSD art is any art or visual displays inspired by psychedelic experiences and hallucinations known to follow the ingestion of LSD. Artists and scientists have been interested in the effect of LSD on drawing and painting since it first became available for legal use and general consumption.
A psychoactive drug, mind-altering drug, or consciousness-altering drug is a chemical substance that changes brain function and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior. The term psychotropic drug is often used interchangeably, while some sources present narrower definitions. These substances may be used medically; recreationally; to purposefully improve performance or alter consciousness; as entheogens for ritual, spiritual, or shamanic purposes; or for research, including psychedelic therapy. Physicians and other healthcare practitioners prescribe psychoactive drugs from several categories for therapeutic purposes. These include anesthetics, analgesics, anticonvulsant and antiparkinsonian drugs as well as medications used to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, such as antidepressants, anxiolytics, antipsychotics, and stimulants. Some psychoactive substances may be used in detoxification and rehabilitation programs for persons dependent on or addicted to other psychoactive drugs.
The Spring Grove Experiment is a series of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) studies performed from 1963 to 1976 on patients with psychotic illnesses at the Spring Grove Clinic in Catonsville, Maryland. These patients were sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health to be part of the first study conducted on the effects of psychedelic drugs on people with schizophrenia. The Spring Grove Experiments were adapted to study the effect of LSD and psychotherapy on patients including alcoholics, heroin addicts, neurotics, and terminally-ill cancer patients. The research done was largely conducted by the members of the Research Unit of Spring Grove State Hospital. Significant contributors to the experiments included Walter Pahnke, Albert Kurland, Sanford Unger, Richard Yensen, Stanislav Grof, William Richards, Francesco Di Leo, and Oliver Lee McCabe. Later, Spring Grove was rebuilt into the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center where studies continued to be performed for the advancement of psychiatric research. This study on LSD is the largest study on psychedelic drugs to date.
Philosophy of psychedelics is the philosophical investigation of the psychedelic experience. While psychedelic, entheogenic or hallucinogenic substances have been used by many traditional cultures throughout history mostly for religious purposes, recorded philosophical speculation and analysis of these substances, their phenomenological effects and the relevance of these altered states of consciousness to philosophical questions is a relatively late phenomenon in the history of philosophy. Traditional cultures who use psychedelic substances such as the Amazonian and Indigenous Mexican peoples hold that ingesting medicinal plants such as Ayahuasca and Peyote allows one to commune with the beings of the spirit world.
A trip killer, or hallucinogen antidote, is a drug that aborts or reduces the effects of a hallucinogenic drug experience. As there are different types of hallucinogens that work in different ways, there are different types of trip killers. They can completely block or reduce the effects of hallucinogens or they can simply provide anxiety relief and sedation. Examples of trip killers, in the case of serotonergic psychedelics, include serotonin receptor antagonists, like antipsychotics and certain antidepressants, and benzodiazepines. Trip killers are sometimes used by recreational psychedelic users as a form of harm reduction to manage so-called bad trips, for instance difficult experiences with prominent anxiety. They can also be used clinically to manage effects of hallucinogens, like anxiety and psychomotor agitation, for instance in the emergency department.
