Hallucinogen


Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, 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. Hallucinogens are often categorized as either being psychedelics, dissociatives, or deliriants, but not all hallucinogens fall into these three classes.

Types and examples

Types and examples of hallucinogens include the following:
The word hallucinogen is derived from the word hallucination. The term hallucinate dates back to around 1595–1605, and is derived from the Latin hallūcinātus, the past participle of allūcināri, meaning "to wander in the mind."

Characteristics

gave five criteria for classifying a drug as hallucinogenic. This definition is broad enough to include a wide range of drugs and has since been shown to encompass a number of categories of drugs with different pharmacological mechanisms and behavioral effects. Richard Glennon has thus given an additional two criteria that narrow the category down to classical hallucinogens. Hollister's criteria for hallucinogens were as follows:
  • in proportion to other effects, changes in thought, perception, and mood should predominate;
  • intellectual or memory impairment should be minimal;
  • stupor, narcosis, or excessive stimulation should not be an integral effect;
  • autonomic nervous system side effects should be minimal; and
  • addictive craving should be absent.
Glennon's additional criteria for classical hallucinogens are that the drugs in question must also:
  • bind at 5-HT2 serotonin receptors; and
  • be recognized by animals trained to discriminate the drug DOM from vehicle.

    Nomenclature and taxonomy

Most hallucinogens can be categorized based on their pharmacological mechanisms as psychedelics, dissociatives, or deliriants. However, the pharmacological mechanisms of some hallucinogens, such as salvinorin A and ibogaine, do not fit into any of those categories. Entactogens and cannabinoids are also sometimes considered hallucinogens. Nonetheless, while the term hallucinogen is often used to refer to the broad class of drugs covered in this article, sometimes it is used to mean only classical hallucinogens. Because of this, it is important to consult the definition given in a particular source. Because of the multi-faceted phenomenology brought on by hallucinogens, efforts to create standardized terminology for classifying them based on their subjective effects have not succeeded to date.
Classical hallucinogens or psychedelics have been described by many names. David E. Nichols wrote in 2004:
Robin Carhart-Harris and Guy Goodwin write that the term psychedelic is preferable to hallucinogen for describing classical psychedelics because of the term hallucinogens "arguably misleading emphasis on these compounds' hallucinogenic properties."
Certain hallucinogens are designer drugs, such as those in the 2C and 25-NB families. A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug while at the same time avoid being classified as illegal and/or avoid detection in standard drug tests.

Effects by type

Psychedelics

s, also known as serotonergic psychedelics or classical hallucinogens, are serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonists with hallucinogenic effects. Despite several attempts that have been made, starting in the 19th and 20th centuries, to define common phenomenological structures brought on by classical psychedelics, a universally accepted taxonomy does not yet exist.
A prominent element of psychedelic experiences is visual alteration. Psychedelic visual alteration often includes spontaneous formation of complex flowing geometric visual patterning in the visual field. When the eyes are open, the visual alteration is overlaid onto the objects and spaces in the physical environment; when the eyes are closed the visual alteration is seen in the "inner world" behind the eyelids. These visual effects increase in complexity with higher dosages, and also when the eyes are closed. The visual alteration does not normally constitute hallucinations, because the person undergoing the experience can still distinguish between real and internally generated visual phenomena, though in some cases, true hallucinations are present. More rarely, psychedelic experiences can include complex hallucinations of objects, animals, people, or even whole landscapes.
A number of studies by Roland R. Griffiths and other researchers have concluded that high doses of psilocybin and other classic psychedelics trigger mystical experiences in most research participants. Mystical experiences have been measured by a number of psychometric scales, including the Hood Mysticism Scale, the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, and the Mystical Experience Questionnaire. The revised version of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, for example, asks participants about four dimensions of their experience, namely the "mystical" quality, positive mood such as the experience of amazement, the loss of the usual sense of time and space, and the sense that the experience cannot be adequately conveyed through words. The questions on the "mystical" quality in turn probe multiple aspects: the sense of "pure" being, the sense of unity with one's surroundings, the sense that what one experienced was real, and the sense of sacredness. Some researchers have questioned the interpretation of the results from these studies and whether the framework and terminology of mysticism are appropriate in a scientific context, while other researchers have responded to those criticisms and argued descriptions of mystical experiences are compatible with a scientific worldview.
Link R. Swanson divides overarching scientific frameworks for understanding psychedelic experiences into two waves. In the first wave, encompassing nineteenth- and twentieth-century frameworks, he includes model psychosis theory, filtration theory, and psychoanalytic theory. In the second wave of theories, encompassing twenty-first-century frameworks, Swanson includes entropic brain theory, integrated information theory, and predictive processing. It is from the paradigm of filtration theory that the term psychedelic derives. Aldous Huxley and Humphrey Osmond applied the pre-existing ideas of filtration theory, which held that the brain filters what enters into consciousness, to explain psychedelic experiences; Huxley believed that the brain was filtering reality itself and that psychedelics granted conscious access to "Mind at Large", whereas Osmond believed that the brain was filtering aspects of the mind out of consciousness. Swanson writes that Osmond's view seems "less radical, more compatible with materialist science, and less epistemically and ontologically committed" than Huxley's.

Dissociatives

Dissociatives produce analgesia, amnesia and catalepsy at anesthetic doses. They also produce a sense of detachment from the surrounding environment, hence "the state has been designated as dissociative anesthesia since the patient truly seems disassociated from his environment." Dissociative symptoms include the disruption or compartmentalization of "...the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity or perception."p. 523 Dissociation of sensory input can cause derealization, the perception of the outside world as being dream-like, vague or unreal. Other dissociative experiences include depersonalization, which includes feeling dissociated from one's personality; feeling unreal; feeling able to observe one's actions but not actively take control; being unable to associate with one's self in the mirror while maintaining rational awareness that the image in the mirror is the same person. In a 2004 paper, Daphne Simeon offered "...common descriptions of depersonalisation experiences: watching oneself from a distance ; candid out-of-body experiences; a sense of just going through the motions; one part of the self acting/participating while the other part is observing;...."
The classical dissociatives achieve their effect through blocking binding of the neurotransmitter glutamate to NMDA receptors and include ketamine, methoxetamine, phencyclidine, dextromethorphan, and nitrous oxide.
Some dissociatives can have CNS depressant effects, thereby carrying similar risks as opioids, which can slow breathing or heart rate to levels resulting in death. DXM in higher doses can increase heart rate and blood pressure and still depress respiration. Inversely, PCP can have more unpredictable effects and has often been classified as a stimulant and a depressant in some texts along with being as a dissociative. While many have reported that they "feel no pain" while under the effects of PCP, DXM and Ketamine, this does not fall under the usual classification of anesthetics in recreational doses. Rather, true to their name, they process pain as a kind of "far away" sensation; pain, although present, becomes a disembodied experience and there is much less emotion associated with it. As for probably the most common dissociative, nitrous oxide, the principal risk seems to be due to oxygen deprivation. Injury from falling is also a danger, as nitrous oxide may cause sudden loss of consciousness, an effect of oxygen deprivation. Because of the high level of physical activity and relative imperviousness to pain induced by PCP, some deaths have been reported due to the release of myoglobin from ruptured muscle cells. High amounts of myoglobin can induce renal shutdown.
Many users of dissociatives have been concerned about the possibility of NMDA antagonist neurotoxicity. This concern is partly due to William E. White, the author of the DXM FAQ, who claimed that dissociatives definitely cause brain damage. The argument was criticized on the basis of lack of evidence and White retracted his claim. White's claims and the ensuing criticism surrounded original research by John Olney.
In 1989, John Olney discovered that neuronal vacuolation and other cytotoxic changes occurred in brains of rats administered NMDA antagonists, including PCP and ketamine. Repeated doses of NMDA antagonists led to cellular tolerance and hence continuous exposure to NMDA antagonists did not lead to cumulative neurotoxic effects. Antihistamines such as diphenhydramine, barbiturates and even diazepam have been found to prevent NAN. LSD and DOB have also been found to prevent NAN.