Psychedelics on the Couch

The term “psychedelic” is derived from the Ancient Greek words “psyche” (meaning “mind”) and “delos” (which means “to manifest”). The British-born Canadian psychiatrist Humphry Osmond coined it in a letter to author Aldous Huxley in 1956.

Psychotropic medication definition. Is any drug prescribed to stabilise or improve mood, mental status, or behaviour?

It’s an umbrella term for many medications, including prescription and commonly misused drugs.

If you want to discuss the benefits of psychedelic drugs, then according to McKenna’s 1992 book on Food of The Gods. He proposed the Stoned Ape Hypothesis. He explained that ingesting psychedelic plants may have encouraged social bonding and consciousness, responsible for doubling the brain capacity of our ancestors two million years ago. 

Unfortunately, it is only a theory with very little proof or support. There’s possibly some truth in what McKenna enunciates, said the palaeontologist Dr Martin Lockley, author of a book called How Humanity Came Into Being. 

However, perusing this theory and being an optimist, could our village cokehead be the next Einstein? 

On the other hand, research has shown that psychedelics may genuinely spark the creation of new neurons and synapses, a process known as neurogenesis within the Petri dish. 

Perhaps in the future, treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia could stimulate the formation of new neurons without sending patients on any mind-bending cosmic adventure.

For the baby boomers, a psychedelic experience is somewhat déjà vu, sending you back to the summer of love.

It is indeed a trip down memory lane for some (pun intended). Still, it doesn’t mean it’s all a bed of roses, and it’s no exaggeration that these substances can harm in the wrong hands or be abused. 

Albeit a popular and mainstream topic for generations, it has been immortalised in history books, folk law and music with positive and negative correlations.

Psychoactive substance

A psychedelic drug is a psychoactive substance whose primary action is to produce hallucinations or other sensory distortions, with secondary effects that are either less prominent or more desirable.

Because of this dual action, the correct term for these drugs is entactogens (entheogens if the primary product is spiritual). Psychedelics include a variety of hallucinogenic compounds like LSD, and mescaline and primarily act on the serotonergic system in the brain.

Psilocybin causes visual and mental distortions, such as dysphoria, stress, and anxiety. While amphetamines like cocaine, crystal meth, ketamine and MDMA cause feelings of euphoria.

Phencyclidine, also known as PCP or angel dust, is an NMDA antagonist and induces symptoms that can mirror those observed in schizophrenia.

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