Hallucinogenic Drugs

According to a research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists have claimed that LSD makes the brain more complete.

The psychedelic drug, LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide), scientists claim, breaks down parts of the brain with different functions such as vision and movement to create a more integrated or unified brain. Generally the brain consists of independent networks that perform separate specialised functions such as vision, movement, hearing and attention. However, under LSD’s influence these networks break down and instead the brain works as a unified entity. Scientists during experiments scanned the brains of 20 volunteers, all of whom were administered with LSD and a placebo. The volunteers after this reported a diminished sense of self i.e. less ego. Moreover its hallucinogenic effects led to volunteers seeing with various other parts of their brain and not just the visual cortex which is active in normal vision.

According to researchers, these effects might account for the religious feelings that people experience after taking the drug. “This suggests this effect under lies the profound altered state of consciousness. It is also related to what people sometimes call ‘ego-dissolution’, which means the normal sense of self is broken down and replaced by a sense of reconnection with themselves, others and the natural world,” said Robin Carhart Harris, lead researcher and first scientist in 40 years to test LSD on humans.

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