Tight-Caterpillar-25 t1_j8u0r4m wrote
It's a strange question to lead the article because high levels of serotonin can cause hallucinations and will cause serotonin syndrome. We don't all have serotonin syndrome because the homeostatis of neutrotransmitters is tightly controlled.
joxeloj t1_j8zfd9h wrote
Serotonin releasing agents are not psychedelic hallucinogens, and hallucinations that might occur during serotonin syndrome are most likely true hallucinations, not psychedelic hallucinations.
Tight-Caterpillar-25 t1_j914jff wrote
MDMA is both a serotonin releasing agent and a psychedelic off the top of my mind.
joxeloj t1_j91oxkx wrote
Have you ever done any of these drugs? Metabolic conversion to MDA (which has some 5-HT2A agonist properties) can create some extremely minor psychedelic effects towards the end of the roll as serotonin levels fall but it's not in the same ballpark as any legitimate psychedelic. There's a reason the empathogen/enactogen classification was created.
Tight-Caterpillar-25 t1_j9229il wrote
So it’s a serotonin releasing agent that has psychedelic effects?
joxeloj t1_j926kd1 wrote
MDA has mild psychedelic effects, because it has some agonist activity at 5-HT2A receptors. If you take enough MDMA occasionally those effects can bleed through towards the tail end of the roll. Very mild visuals at most. Related drugs like 5-MAPB are pure empathogens without psychedelic effects. Methamphetamine at high doses has empathogen effects without psychedelic effects as well. Serotonin release does not induce psychedelic effects. Phenethylamine 5-HT2A agonists can.
Empathogenic effects arise from serotonin release and involve a sense of profound empathy for oneself and others, desire to socialize, anxiety reduction, euphoria, etc while remaining relatively cognitively intact and without meaningful changes in visual perception. These drugs are usually stimulating to some extent. Psychedelic effects arise from biased 5-HT2A agonism and involve vivid, colorful visual hallucinations composed of repeating patterns, loss of sense of self, thought loops, etc without implicit euphoria or anxiolytic effects and in many cases without stimulating effects. Very different experiences.
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