Modes of awareness associated with use of hallucinogens

Hallucinogens are stimulants producing a state of sympathetic dominance. They have traditionally been used for transcendent experience and their ingestion, it has been hypothesized, may account for primitive conceptions of God. The use of LSD or peyote alters and expands human consciousness in a very potent manner. There are changes in perception of the senses, in particular a heightened sense of colour. Other changes are in experience of space and time, in rate and content of thought, in body image. There are: hallucinations and eidetic images (seen with the eyes closed); abrupt and frequent changes in mood and affect; heightened suggestibility; enhanced memory; depersonalization and dissolution of the ego; dual, multiple and fragmentized consciousness; apparent awareness of internal organs and body processes; upsurging of material from the subconscious; awareness of linguistic nuances; increased sensitivity to non-verbal clues, with a sense of capacity to communicate better non-verbally, even telepathically; feelings of empathy; regression and primitivization; apparent heightened concentration; magnification of character traits and psychodynamic processes. The psychodynamic processes appear "naked" so that interaction of ideation, emotion and perception with each other and with inferred unconscious processes become evident. There is concern with philosophical, cosmological and religious questions. The world is apprehended as having slipped from the constraints of normal, categorical ordering so that there is intensified interest in self and world. The range of responses moves from extremes of anxiety to extremes of pleasure.

Commonly the experience is said to be indescribable but the following perceptions may occur:< 1. A dissolving of boundaries between what is within and outside "me", so there is oneness with the universe.

2. An awareness of greater reality than normal.

3. Time and space no longer exist.

4. A sense of sacredness, awe and significance.

5. Visual beauty or blazing white light.

6. A positive mood of joy, ecstasy, bliss, peace or love.

7. Resolution of paradoxes and reduction of opposites to components of the same thing.

8. Abrupt alteration of values and beliefs. This may be permanent or temporary. Temporary change leaves a feeling of guilt and despair, a feeling of having failed.

The difference between the above states occurring "naturally" or as the result of ingesting chemicals is not clear, although the former tend to be more valued, perhaps because the person experiencing such a state naturally has gone through rigorous preparation enabling him to profit more fully from it. Insights brought about by the use of psychedelics are rarely of lasting use or significance, probably because they arise too fast and lack either the preparation or the surrounding support necessary for a permanent effect.

The effects are very dependent on setting, dose, prior expectations and personality. They may continue for months or even years, although the individual is usually aware of their hallucinatory nature. On the negative side, there may be paranoid ideation, anxiety, depression, fear of going insane. Synaesthesia may occur, as may depersonalization and derealization. If a mood disorder pre-exists, then taking a hallucinogen to elevate the mood may result in more severe depression. A particularly unpredictable drug is PCP (phencyclidine) - also referred to as 'angel dust', 'killer weed', 'elephant tranquillizer'. A single dose can produce toxic psychosis of a schizophrenic type, delusions, mental confusion and violent aggression or self-destructiveness. There may be total personality change or catatonic reaction.