The word psychedelic was coined by psychiatrist/psychologist Humphry Osmond (who, incidentally, supplied The Doors of Perception author Aldous Huxley with mescaline and LSD.) It was Osmond who combined the Greek words psyche (mind/soul) and deloun (show.)

A psychedelic drug shows a person’s mind things it has never perceived before, both in the surrounding world and within its own interior — which at times may become radically, uncomfortably, even excessively conscious:

Osmond said the term meant “mind manifesting” and that it was “clear, euphonious and uncontaminated by other associations.”

Others elaborated on the concept of a substance that would reveal to someone their own true self, for better or worse. On the positive side, there is heightened perception experienced through every sense, and deep understanding of that which is perceived. The mood is affected too, often escalating into euphoria.

Where it starts to seem a bit negative, is when the mind hallucinates, and sees or imagines something that doesn’t exist. In the realm of perception, some might call it not enhanced, but distorted. Rather than euphoria, there might be despair. Gentle and beneficent enhancement might escalate into uncomfortable, or even miserable, intensity.

The other purposely coined word, serotonergic, already had meanings, like being activated by serotonin, or able to liberate serotonin. It signifies that the transmission of nerve impulses is facilitated. There is much more to it, of course, and at some point, serotonergic psychedelics became very interesting to the scientists who specialize in such arcane fields.

Psychedelics connect with something called the 5-HT2A receptor to evoke psychoplastogenic effects… Does that mean what it sounds like? Yes. The mind can be molded. Biochemist and neuroscientist David E. Olson wrote of his work toward recovery from various brain disorders:

Many neuropsychiatric diseases including mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders arise from an inability to weaken and/or strengthen pathologic and beneficial circuits, respectively, ultimately leading to maladaptive behavioral responses… Thus, compounds capable of facilitating the structural and functional reorganization of neural circuits to produce positive behavioral effects have broad therapeutic potential.

Plasticity is not a new discovery, but up until recently, the substances that were tried turned out to be indirect and slow-acting. But the new class of psychoplastogens are capable not only of promoting structural and functional neural plasticity, but of doing it fast.

A paper published at the end of 2021 started out by explaining that it was written because…

There has been a renewal of interest in serotonergic psychedelics as potential rapid-acting antidepressants for the treatment of anxiety and depression.

The numerous and multi-national authors mention “mood-related behavior,” and the more we learn about these rapid-action serotonergic psychedelics, the more apparent it is how they relate to the addiction realm. 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Iodoamphetamine, the subject of the report, is now generally nicknamed DOI, and it will be looked at more closely in the next post. As it turns out, DOI is often used to map the brain’s serotonin-2A receptors, and has indeed been more thoroughly researched than most psychedelics.

But that is also the downside. DOI is, obviously, in the family of “psychedelic amphetamines,” two scary words that may be enough reason for the government to send it into exile forever. Equally alarming, the literature speaks of neuronal plasticity-associated genes, and when something affects the genes, well, it makes people stop and think. Depending on which direction that thinking veers toward, science may or may not find an unprecedentedly successful treatment for addiction.

(To be continued…)

Written by Pat Hartman. First published August 23, 2024.

Sources:

“The Origin of the Term “Psychedelic”, NYAS.org, April 4, 2024.

“Psychoplastogens: A Promising Class of Plasticity-Promoting Neurotherapeutics,” NIH.gov, September 2018

“The Hallucinogenic Serotonin2A Receptor Agonist, 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Iodoamphetamine…,” Frontiers, December 23, 2021.

Image Copyright: Amanita/Public Domain.