Encyclopedia

Synthetic phenethylamine psychedelic with combined empathogenic and visual effects

Primary receptor psychedelics act on

Potent psychedelic tryptamine known as the 'God Molecule' for its intense mystical effects

Residual positive psychological effects persisting in the days following a psychedelic experience

Traditional Amazonian brew combining DMT-containing plants with MAOIs for a prolonged psychedelic experience

An informal, non-clinical label for substances users associate with out-of-body-experience-like effects — most often DMT, ketamine, and other dissociatives. This describes a subjective experience some users report, not a scientifically validated claim that consciousness literally leaves the body.

A documented pattern of sustained improved mood and wellbeing in the days to weeks following a psychedelic experience, distinct from the acute drug effects during the trip itself.

A minor tryptamine alkaloid, chemically a trimethylammonium analog of psilocybin, found in Inocybe aeruginascens (the species it's named for) and reported in some psilocybin-containing mushrooms. Anecdotal reports describe a euphoric effect without added hallucination, but its receptor binding is far weaker than psilocybin's and real pharmacological data is scarce — treat claims about its specific effects as unproven.

Challenging experience with fear/anxiety

Randomness of brain activity

FDA status granted to expedite development of drugs showing substantial improvement over existing treatments

A nickname for smoked or vaporized DMT, whose effects last only 5–20 minutes — short enough, the joke goes, to fit into a lunch break. Despite the brief clock time, users commonly describe the subjective experience as vastly longer, sometimes reporting what feels like an entire alternate lifetime compressed into minutes.

Sustained attention on one object

Ability to shift perspectives

Experience of breaking through into an apparent alternate dimension at higher DMT doses

Preparatory dietary and behavioral regimen followed before ayahuasca ceremonies

Reduction of self-referential brain activity

Self-referential thinking network

Seeing thoughts as events

Detachment from reality or self

Classic psychedelic naturally found in plants and animals; principal ingredient in ayahuasca

Temporary loss of sense of self

Emotional stability regardless of experience

Reduced sense of self

Reframing emotional memories

Class of substances that increase feelings of empathy, emotional openness, and connectedness (e.g., MDMA)

The use of entheogens — substances historically used in Indigenous and religious traditions to occasion spiritual or mystical states — within a therapeutic or clinical framework. The term sits at the intersection of two traditions this field is still working out how to reconcile: sacred/ceremonial use and evidence-based medicine.

Microdosing schedule of one dose day followed by two rest days, repeated in 4–8 week cycles

Communication between brain regions

Session with trained facilitator

A DOx-family phenethylamine psychedelic (2,5-dimethoxy-3,4-dimethylamphetamine), first synthesized by chemist Alexander Shulgin. Despite sometimes being searched alongside "acid," it is chemically unrelated to LSD, which is a lysergamide, not a phenethylamine.

Practices and strategies aimed at minimizing risks associated with psychedelic use

Persistent visual disturbances

Process of making sense of experience afterward

Post-experience structured processing

Ego expansion after experience

Psychoactive alkaloid from the African iboga plant studied for addiction interruption

Deep absorption meditation states

Dissociative anesthetic with rapid-acting antidepressant properties used in clinical therapy settings

Ritual vomiting during ayahuasca ceremony considered part of physical and psychological cleansing

Technique of soaking ground psilocybin mushrooms in lemon juice to accelerate onset and intensity

Classic psychedelic known for extended duration and profound perceptual and cognitive effects

Unity, transcendence, and deep meaning state

Sub-perceptual dosing

Full psychoactive dose

Non-judgmental present awareness

Awareness of thinking

Therapeutic protocol combining MDMA with psychotherapy, primarily studied for PTSD treatment

Non-classical psychedelic empathogen used in assisted therapy, primarily studied for PTSD treatment

Psychedelic alkaloid found in peyote and San Pedro cacti with long indigenous ceremonial use

Enzyme inhibitor that prevents breakdown of DMT in the gut, enabling oral psychoactive activity in ayahuasca

Collapse of subject-object distinction

Brain's ability to reorganize

Altered states of consciousness

Growth of new neurons

A substance that induces vivid, dream-like states of consciousness, from the Greek for "dream" and "to create." Includes azepinoindoles like ibogaine and beta-carbolines like harmaline, one of ayahuasca's active alkaloids.

Brain as prediction machine

Adapting behavior aligned with values

Therapeutic protocol combining psilocybin with professional psychotherapy for depression and other conditions

Primary psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms; a prodrug converted to psilocin in the body

Active psychoactive metabolite of psilocybin responsible for the psychedelic effects

Inactive compound that is metabolically converted into an active drug in the body (e.g., psilocybin → psilocin)

The experience of encountering a seemingly autonomous, independent being during a psychedelic trip — most commonly reported at high doses of DMT or 5-MeO-DMT, and with ayahuasca. Whether this reflects a genuinely separate consciousness, a construct of the brain's own predictive machinery, or something else entirely is a live, unresolved debate rather than settled science.

A compound claimed by the "Church of Psilomethoxin" to form when 5-MeO-DMT is added to cultivated Psilocybe mushrooms during growth. An independent 2023 analytical chemistry study (UPLC-HRMS) found no evidence the compound actually exists in the group's product — only ordinary psilocybin, psilocin, and baeocystin, the alkaloids already expected in psilocybin mushrooms. Treat claims about it skeptically pending real chemical verification.

Drug-culture slang for the idea that heavy LSD or psychedelic use causes permanent brain damage. Researchers, including psychedelic pharmacologist David Nichols, describe it as largely a myth without solid supporting evidence — distinct from HPPD, a real but rare diagnosed condition (see entry above).

Repetitive, often negative thought patterns that psychedelics and meditation may help disrupt

Mindset and environment shaping the experience

Determines importance of stimuli

Avoiding issues via spirituality

An informal, colloquial umbrella term for substances used specifically to facilitate spiritual or mystical experience — largely overlapping with "entheogen," a more precise term for the same idea.

An informal umbrella term for substances used within Indigenous shamanic or ceremonial traditions — ayahuasca, peyote, and iboga are the most commonly cited examples. Overlaps heavily with "entheogenic medicine" and "spiritual drug" (see entries above); none are precise clinical terms.

Acute psychedelic experience

Sober companion who provides safety and emotional support during a psychedelic experience

Filtering of sensory input

Depression not responsive to treatment

A non-hallucinogenic, non-cardiotoxic ibogaine analog engineered at UC Davis's Olson Lab. Water-soluble and synthesizable in a single step, it promotes the same kind of neuroplasticity as ibogaine — new dendrites and dendritic spines — without producing a head-twitch response in mice, the standard proxy for hallucinogenic effect. Reduced alcohol consumption and reversed stress-induced changes in animal studies; no human trials yet.

A recurring symbolic image — branching, interconnected, often glowing or fractal — reported across cultures and traditions during high-dose psychedelic experiences, and a common motif in ayahuasca-inspired visionary art. A cultural and subjective pattern, not a clinical or pharmacological classification.

Insight into impermanence and non-self

Observing without identification

A documented but scientifically unexplained toxidrome — temporary muscle weakness in the eyes, face, hands, or legs, starting a few hours after eating mushrooms — reported exclusively with wood-growing Psilocybe species like P. azurescens and P. cyanescens. Aeruginascin (see above) is one proposed cause among several, none confirmed. Documented among foragers since at least 2001; if it happens, it typically resolves within a day.