In a recent study, scientists mapped descriptions of psychedelic experiences to the brains of subjects through gene expression analysis of neurotransmitters, in an effort to understand psychedelic-induced altered states of consciousness and find patterns across the experiences.
The study included 27 drugs and investigated 40 neurotransmitter subtypes across 6850 trips. The most frequently used words from free-form trip testimonials were analysed using natural language processing tools.
Four leading factors were described across the study – ego dissolution, auditory sensation, visual themes and emotional themes.
Across the trip experiences, ego dissolution was described with prevalent words such as universe, space, world, consciousness, existence, and reality. Many of these words appear as an effort to describe mental expansion. Additionally, the presence of some words describing the presence of an “other” such as alien, being or spirit, which are characteristic of a mystical experience.
The neurotransmitters linked most strongly were D1, 5-HT7, KOR, 5-HT5A and Sigma-1, which were tightly linked with the drugs DMT, salvinorin A, 5-MeO-DMT and ketamine.
The third leading receptor-experience factor was visual themes, described in words such as patterns, color, eye, and suggested changes in normal vision with words like, moving, waves, tracers and swirling. These words were linked with the serotonergic receptors 5-HT2A, 5-HT2C and 5-HT1A, and the drugs DOI, 2C-T-7, 2C-D, 2C-C.
Many subjects reported auditory sensations with words such as pitch, sound, tone, buzz, and voice(s). This was linked to the serotonin receptor 5-HT1A. These experiences were overwhelming with the DiPT drug.
The emotional themes described included words like, friends, love, dancing and depression. These experiences were linked to drugs such as DiPT, MDMA, MDA and ketamine.
This large-scale mapping of the psychedelic experience uncovered themes across the drugs which may be useful in the future for better drug classification.
This article was first published in Nina’s Notes on 23 November 2022, and is republished on Psychedelic Health with permission.
