iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Psychedelic Experience

For the book authored by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert, see .
''

A psychedelic experience, or trip, is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ordinary fetters. Psychedelic states are one of the stations on the spectrum of experiences elicited by sensory deprivation as well as by psychedelic substances. On that same spectrum will be found hallucinations, changes of perception, synesthesia, altered states of awareness, mystical states, and occasionally states resembling psychosis. The word psychedelic comes from a combination of two Greek words: psyche (ψυχή) and delos (δήλος). Literally, it means "mind manifesting".

The psychedelic experience is an intimate experience, but there are many common themes, and ranges from a sense of connectedness to everything in the immediate vicinity, to a sense of oneness with everything in the universe. Potentially, the range of the drug-induced psychedelic experience goes far beyond other drugs, illicit in particular. Simply because "trip drugs", or hallucinogenic drugs have these effects, in contrast to say heroin, and its depressant effects.

Many who undertake such experiences come to see them as an ordeal, and mentally overbearing. For many, such experiences come to be seen as personal re-enactments of the hero's journey. Psychedelic drugs can be used as a means to achieve states of mind in which different perceptions unhindered by everyday mental filters and processes can arise. Hallucinations and the mental, emotional and long term impact of the experience are positive and enduring for many.

There has been research, largely during the 1960s, suggesting that psychedelic drugs may be have medical uses, for example use in psychotherapy.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies or MAPS, the Heffter Research Institute, and the Beckley Foundation are three contemporary organizations that study the effects of psychedelics in people.

Levels of psychedelic experience

The Psychedelic Experience FAQ describes five different levels of psychedelic experience:

Level 1

This level produces a mild "high" effect, with some visual enhancement (e.g. brighter colors) and music sounds "wider," or more piercing to the ears. This level can be achieved from a normal dose of cannabis or a very low dose of a classic psychedelic such as psilocybin. Occasionally common prescription drugs like SSRIs and the like can produce mild 'trippy' effects, as well, though they are not normally classified as psychedelic experiences because they are so mild.

Level 2

Bright colors; visuals (e.g. things may appear to move or breathe); some two-dimensional patterns become apparent upon shutting eyes. Confused, cyclic or reminiscent thoughts. Change in short term memory leads to continually distracting thought patterns. While it may become increasingly difficult to follow a single train of thought, at other times one might find themselves lost in deep introspection about one specific idea or problem. The need to see 'normal' reality becomes less, the urge to venture 'beyond the void' becomes more. Level 3 tripping can intersperse with level 2 as long as eyes are shut. This state can be achieved from a high dose of THC or a low dose of psilocybin or LSD.

Level 3

Very obvious visuals, everything looking curved and/or warped, patterns, kaleidoscopes or fractal images seen on walls, landscapes, faces, etc. Closed eye hallucinations become three dimensional. There is some confusing of the senses (synesthesia). Time distortions and "moments of eternity". Movement at times becomes extremely difficult (too much effort required). A normal dose of either psilocybin or LSD can produce this effect.

Level 4

Strong visual effects, e.g. objects morphing into other objects. Dissolving or multiple splitting of the ego (e.g. things start talking, or feeling of contradictory things simultaneously). The loss of sense of self can bring a shift in the sense of reality, often accompanied by a sense of ineffable lucidity. Time becomes very distorted and participants may perceive an activity lasting only minutes to have encompassed hours of their own reality. Out-of-body experiences and ESP-type experiences. A high dose of psilocybin can produce this effect, as can a normal to high dose of LSD.

Level 5

Total loss of visual connection with reality. The senses cease to function in the normal way. Total loss of ego. Feelings of merging with space, other objects or the universe. Feelings of reaching to the beginning or the end of space and time. The loss of reality becomes so extreme that it defies explanation. Dream or movie like states, people have been reported seeing themselves in entirely different settings than their original setting. Earlier levels are relatively easy to describe in terms of measurable changes in perception and thought patterns. The only thing still reported to be working at a recognizable level, is the mind's voice of thought. Much is unknown about what a person actually experiences during this period, because most people actually come back explaining the experience as "unexplainable" or "uncommunicable". This effect can be produced in high doses of LSD, DXM and extremely high doses of psilocybin or with extremely high doses of the strongest extracts of salvia divinorum. DMT is known to send people to level 5 with a common smoked dose, making it one of the most powerful psychedelics known to man.

Psychedelic drugs

Notable mind explorers

See also

References

  • Stafford, Peter. (2003). Psychedlics. Ronin Publishing, Oakland, California. ISBN 0-914171-18-6.

External links

Fetters, shackles, footcuffs or leg irons are a kind of physical restraint used on the feet or ankles. The term "fetter" shares a root with the word "foot".

In humans, typically only prisoners or bondage fetishists will wear shackles.
..... Click the link for more information.
Sensory deprivation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing respectively, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch, taste,
..... Click the link for more information.
A hallucination is a perception in the absence of a stimulus that is believed to be genuine, ie. the subject experiences an imaginary stimulus as being real. A pseudohallucination is similar to an hallucination in all respects except that of absolute belief in the authenticity of
..... Click the link for more information.
perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was proclaimed that building perceiving machines would take about a decade, but, needless to say,
..... Click the link for more information.
Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae)—from the Ancient Greek (syn), meaning "with," and
..... Click the link for more information.
Mysticism (from the Greek μυστικός (mystikos) "an initiate" (of the Eleusinian Mysteries, μυστήρια (mysteria) meaning "initiation"[1]
..... Click the link for more information.
Psychosis
Classification & external resources

ICD-9 290 - 299

OMIM 603342 608923 603175 192430

MedlinePlus 001553

MeSH F03.700.
..... Click the link for more information.
psychedelic is an English term coined from the Greek words for "mind," ψυχή (psyche), and "manifest," δήλος (delos).
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
You can assist by [ editing it] now. A how-to guide is available, as is general .
This article has been tagged since September 2007.
..... Click the link for more information.
drug, broadly speaking, is a substance used as a medicine or narcotic.[1] There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in medicine, government regulations, and colloquial usage.[2]

In pharmacology, Dictionary.
..... Click the link for more information.
hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness.
..... Click the link for more information.
A depressant, referred to in slang as a "downer," is a chemical agent that diminishes the function or activity of a specific part of the body. (See also sedative.) The term is used in particular with regard to the central nervous system (CNS).
..... Click the link for more information.
monomyth (often referred to as "the hero's journey") is a description of a basic pattern found in many narratives from around the world. This universal pattern was described by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).
..... Click the link for more information.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that assists scientists to design, fund, obtain approval for and report on studies into the risks and benefits of psychedelic drugs (including MDMA, ibogaine and
..... Click the link for more information.
The Heffter Research Institute was founded in 1993 to support and promote investigation into the medical uses of psychedelic hallucinogens. It is named after the German chemist and pharmacologist Arthur Heffter, who in 1897 discovered that mescaline was the active principle in the
..... Click the link for more information.
The Beckley Foundation is a charitable trust that promotes the investigation of consciousness and its modulation from a multidisciplinary perspective. It is located in the grounds of Beckley Park near the village of Beckley, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
..... Click the link for more information.
Cannabis, also known as marijuana[1] or ganja,[2] is a psychoactive product of the plant Cannabis sativa L. subsp. indica (= C. indica Lam.).
..... Click the link for more information.
Psilocybin (also known as psilocybine) is a psychedelic alkaloid of the tryptamine family, found in psilocybin mushrooms. It is considered mostly to be an entheogen and a tool in use to supplement various types of practices for transcendence including in meditation,
..... Click the link for more information.
prescription drug is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over-the-counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription.
..... Click the link for more information.
Tetrahydrocannabinol , also known as THC, Δ9-THC, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinol (using an older numbering scheme), or dronabinol
..... Click the link for more information.
Psilocybin (also known as psilocybine) is a psychedelic alkaloid of the tryptamine family, found in psilocybin mushrooms. It is considered mostly to be an entheogen and a tool in use to supplement various types of practices for transcendence including in meditation,
..... Click the link for more information.
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, LSD-25, or acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the tryptamine family. Probably the best known psychedelic, it has been used mainly as; a recreational drug, an entheogen, and a tool to aid various methods for
..... Click the link for more information.
fractal.]]

A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"[1] a property called self-similarity.
..... Click the link for more information.
Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae)—from the Ancient Greek (syn), meaning "with," and
..... Click the link for more information.
Psilocybin (also known as psilocybine) is a psychedelic alkaloid of the tryptamine family, found in psilocybin mushrooms. It is considered mostly to be an entheogen and a tool in use to supplement various types of practices for transcendence including in meditation,
..... Click the link for more information.
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, LSD-25, or acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the tryptamine family. Probably the best known psychedelic, it has been used mainly as; a recreational drug, an entheogen, and a tool to aid various methods for
..... Click the link for more information.
Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP) is defined as ability to acquire information by paranormal means independent of any known physical senses or deduction from previous experience. The term was coined by Duke University researcher J. B.
..... Click the link for more information.
Psilocybin (also known as psilocybine) is a psychedelic alkaloid of the tryptamine family, found in psilocybin mushrooms. It is considered mostly to be an entheogen and a tool in use to supplement various types of practices for transcendence including in meditation,
..... Click the link for more information.
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, LSD-25, or acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the tryptamine family. Probably the best known psychedelic, it has been used mainly as; a recreational drug, an entheogen, and a tool to aid various methods for
..... Click the link for more information.
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, LSD-25, or acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the tryptamine family. Probably the best known psychedelic, it has been used mainly as; a recreational drug, an entheogen, and a tool to aid various methods for
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter