Psychedelic drugs are
psychoactive drugs whose
primary action is to alter the
thought processes of the
brain. The term is derived
from Greek
ψυχή
(psyche, "mind") and
δηλε
ίν
(delein, "to manifest"),
translating to "mind
manifesting." "The implication
is that the psychedelic drugs
can develop unused potentials
of the human mind."
Psychedelic drugs are part of
a wider class sometimes
known as the hallucinogens,
which also includes related
substances such as
dissociatives and deliriants.
Unlike other psychoactive
drugs such as stimulants and
opioids, the hallucinogens do
not merely induce familiar
states of mind, but rather
amplify experiences so that
they are qualitatively different
from those of ordinary
consciousness. These
experiences are often
compared to non-ordinary
forms of consciousness such
as trance, meditation,
conversion experiences and
dreams.
Many psychedelic drugs are
thought to disable filters which
keep signals unrelated to
everyday functions from
reaching the conscious mind.
These signals are presumed
to originate in several other
functions of the brain,
including but not limited to the
senses, emotions, memories
and the unconscious (or
subconscious) mind. This
effect is sometimes referred
to as mind expanding, or
consciousness expanding, for
the conscious mind becomes
aware of things normally
inaccessible to it.
"Blotter" LSD, a psychedelic
drug definition that more
clearly sets apart a classic or
true psychedelic is offered by
Lester Grinspoon: “a
psychedelic drug is one which
has small likelihood of causing
physical addiction, craving,
major physiological
disturbances, delirium,
disorientation, or amnesia,
produces thought, mood, and
perceptual changes otherwise
rarely experienced except
perhaps in dreams,
contemplative and religious
exaltation, flashes of vivid
involuntary memory and
acute psychoses”.
Over the decades, the term
has been expanded to include
far more substances than
originally intended. Many
pharmacologists define
psychedelic drugs as
chemicals which have an LSD
or mescaline like action on
certain serotonin receptors.
This essentially means
tryptamines and
phenethylamines, as no
psychedelics from other
chemical families have been
discovered, with the possible
exception of piperazines.
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