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3,4-Methyl
Alexander Theodore "Sasha" Shulgin was an American medicinal chemist, biochemist, organic chemist, pharmacologist, psychopharmacologist, and author. He is credited with introducing 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine to psychologists in the late 1970s for psychopharmaceutical use and for the discovery, synthesis and personal bioassay of over 230 psychoactive compounds for their psychedelic and entactogenic potential.
PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story is a book by Dr. Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin, published in 1991. The subject of the work is psychoactive phenethylamine chemical derivatives, notably those that act as psychedelics and/or empathogen-entactogens. The main title, PiHKAL, is an acronym that stands for "Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved".
2C-E is a psychedelic phenethylamine of the 2C family. It was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin and documented in his book PiHKAL. Like the other substances in its family, it produces sensory and cognitive effects in its physical reactions with living organisms.
Empathogens or entactogens are a class of psychoactive drugs that produce experiences of emotional communion, oneness, relatedness, emotional openness—that is, empathy or sympathy—as particularly observed and reported for experiences with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). This class of drug is distinguished from the classes of hallucinogen or psychedelic, and amphetamine or stimulants. Major members of this class include MDMA, MDA, MDEA, MDOH, MBDB, 5-APB, 5-MAPB, 6-APB, 6-MAPB, methylone, mephedrone, GHB, αMT, and αET, MDAI among others. Most entactogens are phenethylamines and amphetamines, although several, such as αMT and αET, are tryptamines. When referring to MDMA and its counterparts, the term MDxx is often used. Entactogens are sometimes incorrectly referred to as hallucinogens or stimulants, although many entactogens such as ecstasy exhibit psychedelic or stimulant properties as well.
TIHKAL: The Continuation is a 1997 book written by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin about a family of psychoactive drugs known as tryptamines. A sequel to PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, TIHKAL is an acronym that stands for "Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved".
Psychedelic therapy refers to the proposed use of psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and ayahuasca, 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.
3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine is an empathogen-entactogen, psychostimulant, and psychedelic drug of the amphetamine family that is encountered mainly as a recreational drug. In terms of pharmacology, MDA acts most importantly as a serotonin–norepinephrine–dopamine releasing agent (SNDRA). In most countries, the drug is a controlled substance and its possession and sale are illegal.
α-Ethyltryptamine, also known as etryptamine, is a psychedelic, stimulant, and entactogenic drug of the tryptamine class. It was originally developed and marketed as an antidepressant under the brand name Monase by Upjohn in the 1960s.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is an American nonprofit organization working to raise awareness and understanding of psychedelic substances. MAPS was founded in 1986 by Rick Doblin and is now based in San Jose, California.
David Earl Nichols is an American pharmacologist and medicinal chemist. Previously the Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology at Purdue University, Nichols has worked in the field of psychoactive drugs since 1969. While still a graduate student, he patented the method that is used to make the optical isomers of hallucinogenic amphetamines. His contributions include the synthesis and reporting of escaline, LSZ, 6-APB, 2C-I-NBOMe and other NBOMe variants, and several others, as well as the coining of the term "entactogen".
Richard Elliot Doblin is an American drug activist and executive who is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).
Laura Ann Shulgin was an American author and the wife of chemist Alexander Shulgin, with whom she wrote PiHKAL and TiHKAL.
Substituted methylenedioxy- phenethylamines (MDxx) are a large chemical class of derivatives of the phenethylamines, which includes many psychoactive drugs that act as entactogens, psychedelics, and/or stimulants, as well as entheogens. These agents are used as research chemicals, designer drugs and as recreational substances.
Ecstasy Rising is an ABC News television documentary with Peter Jennings on the history of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) also known as ecstasy. It includes a short history of the drug and criticizes the negative health claims made by the U.S. government.
Betty Grover Eisner was an American psychologist known for pioneering the use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs as adjuncts to psychotherapy.
Insight-oriented psychotherapy is a category of psychotherapies that rely on conversation between the therapist and the client. It involves developing the patient's understanding of past and present experiences, how they are related to each other and the effect they have on the patient's interpersonal relationships, emotions and symptoms. Insight-oriented psychotherapy can be an intensive process, wherein the client must spend multiple days per week with the therapist.
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 a federal agency called the National Institute of Mental Health to be part of the first study conducted on the effects of psychedelic drugs on people with schizophrenia. Then, 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.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is the use of prescribed doses of MDMA as an adjunct to psychotherapy sessions. Research suggests that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including Complex PTSD, might improve treatment effectiveness. In 2017, a Phase II clinical trial led to "breakthrough therapy" designation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Psychedelic treatments for trauma-related disorders are the use of psychedelic substances, either alone or used in conjunction with psychotherapy, to treat trauma-related disorders. Trauma-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have a lifetime prevalence of around 8% in the US population. However, even though trauma-related disorders can hinder the everyday life of individuals with them, less than 50% of patients who meet criteria for PTSD diagnosis receive proper treatment. Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for trauma-related disorders. A meta-analysis of treatment outcomes has shown that 67% of patients who completed treatment for PTSD no longer met diagnostic criteria for PTSD. For those seeking evidence-based psychotherapy treatment, it is estimated that 22-24% will drop out of their treatment. In addition to psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy (medication) is an option for treating PTSD; however, research has found that pharmacotherapy is only effective for about 59% of patients. Although both forms of treatment are effective for many patients, high dropout rates of psychotherapy and treatment-resistant forms of PTSD have led to increased research in other possible forms of treatment. One such form is the use of psychedelics.
References
- ↑ Purdue University archives
- 1 2 "Erowid Leo Zeff Vault".
- ↑ "Alexander Shulgin, 'Godfather of ecstasy', dies aged 88". BBC News. June 3, 2014.
- ↑ Bennett, Drake (January 30, 2005). "Dr. Ecstasy". New York Times Magazine. Retrieved June 1, 2008."Ann Shulgin remembers a speaker at Zeff's memorial service saying that Zeff had introduced the drug to 'about 4,000' therapists."
- ↑ Brown, Ethan (September 2002). "Professor X". Wired. Vol. 10, no. 9. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
Zeff was so enthusiastic about the compound that he postponed his retirement to travel across the country introducing MDMA to hundreds of his fellow therapists. Along the way, he gave the drug its first street name, Adam, because he believed it stripped away neuroses and put users in a primordial state.
- 1 2 Erowid Review: The Secret Chief (2005)
