Mystical Psychedelic Effects

Hallucinogenic drugs, or psychedelics, alter the way a person perceives the world around him and can blur the senses together. The alterations that occur are similar to synesthesia, a disorder in which sounds can have colors, colors can have smells, and smells can be felt (Ciccarelli, 2006). Common effects of psychedelics are “kaleidoscopic display of intensely colorful visions, ranging from continuously unfolding abstract designs to fully formed images of animals, plants, landscapes or more bizarre scenes. (Lyvers, 2003).” Sometimes stronger psychedelics can produce full hallucinations of things that are not really there. Psychedelics, such as Psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, Mescaline, and DMT closely resemble the brain’s natural neurotransmitter serotonin (Lyvers, 2003).

Psychedelics are different than most drugs because they do not produce consistent effects for all users or even similar effects in the same user on different occasions (Lyvers, 2003). The effects of psychedelics on the brain are quite complicated and have fascinated many scientists in different fields. Psychedelics have been used in religious ceremonies and rituals in many cultures throughout history. Can science explain how these hallucinogenic drugs can induce such powerful and mystical experiences? Do psychedelics have any benefits medically or spiritually? One possible side effect of hallucinogens are bad trips. Bad LSD trips can cause flashbacks that resemble Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Ciccarelli, 2006). Are these phenomena caused by similar triggers in the brain? These drugs can induce symptoms that are similar to psychosis caused by schizophrenia. Are these symptoms the result of similar chemicals acting on specific sites in the brain?

The answers to these questions have been difficult to pinpoint, and many questions have remained unanswered. Scientists have discovered that hallucinogens are chemically similar to the brain’s natural serotonin (5-HT). Serotonin is found in certain neurons of the brain involved in chemical neurotransmissions. Psychedelics cause an increase in serotonin levels in the brain, but they also inhibit the rapid firing of neurons that contain serotonin. These drugs affect the serotonin receptors, specifically the 5-HT2 receptors, and the effects of hallucinogens are caused by activity of serotonin containing neurons after synaptic transmissions occur in the brain. Also, there is evidence that certain psychedelics inhibit serotonin release of 5-HT1 serotonin transmitter receptors. These disruptions cause “hyperactivity of the frontal and occipital lobes, especially in the right hemisphere” when a brain on psilocybin is analyzed using PET scans (Lyvers, 2003). How these effects in the brain’s chemical transmissions cause psychedelic experience and hallucinations of sounds and sights that do not exist is still not understood.

The science of psychedelic experience appears hard to explain, but can science explain how psychedelics are able to produce profound religious and mystical experiences. Psychedelics such as psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline containing cacti, and DMT (dimethyltryptamine) containing plants have been involved with powerful religious experiences in many different ceremonies. Studies have shown that these experiences can have beneficial and lasting effects long after the trip wears off (?). Psychedelics can give someone the ability to look deep into oneself or give them a sense of unity with god or the world. Are these simply the brain’s way of making sense out of these distortions? Do psychedelics truly expand the mind or even allow us to tap into a new realm of consciousness?

Dr. Rick Strassman has conducted research in the mid-1990s on the effects of DMT, which is one of the world’s most powerful psychedelics. It has long been used by in South American ceremonies in the form of yage or ayahuasca. Their ceremonies involved a shaman and were used in guiding life changing decisions. According to Strassman, he believes the pineal gland produces DMT naturally in the brain and may be involved in natural mystical states such as dreams and near-death experiences. Strassman claims that DMT may be the “spirit molecule” and the pineal gland may be the “spirit gland” (Strassman, 2006).

Throughout Dr. Strassman’s research study subjects had many contacts with “entities” or “beings.” As these encounters continued to happen Dr. Strassman supervised and began to encourage volunteers to explore the experience fully. Some of the sessions even sounded much like an alien abduction, raising new questions about how the alien abduction phenomena occurs. Other sessions resembled near-death experience and involved themes of death or dying. Some sessions actually involved a death and rebirth experience. Still other sessions manifested encounters