Although it seems unlikely that this name will ever be accepted in formal scientific circles, its use has dramatically increased in the popular media and on internet sites. This term suggests that these substances reveal or allow a connection to the 'divine within'. Thus, the term entheogen, derived from the Greek word entheos, which means 'god within', was introduced by Ruck et al. Most recently, there has been a movement in nonscientific circles to recognize the ability of these substances to provoke mystical experiences and evoke feelings of spiritual significance. In the lay press, the term psychedelic is still the most popular and has held sway for nearly four decades.

Hallucinogen is now, however, the most common designation in the scientific literature, although it is an inaccurate descriptor of the actual effects of these drugs. The most popular names-hallucinogen, psychotomimetic, and psychedelic ('mind manifesting')-have often been used interchangeably. The famous German toxicologist Louis Lewin used the name phantastica earlier in this century, and as we shall see later, such a descriptor is not so farfetched. Many different names have been proposed over the years for this drug class. Nichols wrote the following about the nomenclature used for psychedelic drugs: Recently, the term entheogenic has come into use to denote the use of psychedelic drugs, as well as various other types of psychoactive substances, in a religious, spiritual, and mystical context.

Īldous Huxley had suggested his own coinage phanerothyme (Greek phaneroein- 'visible' and Greek thymos 'soul', thus 'visible soul') to Osmond in 1956. The term was loathed by American ethnobotanist Richard Schultes but championed by American psychologist Timothy Leary. It is irregularly derived from the Greek words ψυχή psychḗ 'soul, mind' and δηλείν dēleín 'to manifest', with the intended meaning 'mind manifesting,' the implication being that psychedelics can develop unused potentials of the human mind. The term psychedelic was coined by the psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond during written correspondence with author Aldous Huxley and presented to the New York Academy of Sciences by Osmond in 1957. Although further research is needed, existing results suggest that psychedelics could be effective treatments for certain forms of psychopathology. Studies conducted using psilocybin in a psychotherapeutic setting reveal that psychedelic drugs may assist with treating depression, alcohol addiction, and nicotine addiction. Research has been conducted, however, and studies show that psychedelics are physiologically safe and rarely lead to addiction. Legal barriers have made the scientific study of psychedelics more difficult. Despite these controls, recreational use of psychedelics is common. Many psychedelic drugs are illegal worldwide under the UN conventions, with occasional exceptions for religious use or research contexts.

The phenomenon of ego death is often described as a key feature of the psychedelic experience. The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as those experienced in meditation, mystical experiences, and near-death experiences, which also appear to be partially underpinned by altered default mode network activity. When compounds bind to serotonin 5-HT 2A receptors, they modulate the activity of key circuits in the brain involved with sensory perception and cognition, however, the exact nature of how psychedelics induce changes in perception and cognition via the 5-HT 2A receptor is still unknown, although reduction in default mode network activity and increased functional connectivity between regions in the brain as a result may be one of the most relevant pharmacological mechanisms underpinning the psychedelic experience, particularly ego death. Most psychedelic drugs fall into one of the three families of chemical compounds: tryptamines, phenethylamines, or lysergamides and many tend to act via serotonin 2A receptor agonism. The 'classical' psychedelics, the psychedelics with the largest scientific and cultural influence, are mescaline, LSD, psilocybin, and DMT. This causes specific psychological, visual, and auditory changes, and often a substantially altered state of consciousness. Psychedelics are a class of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or 'trips'). Normally biosynthesized from peyote and some other cacti, mescaline was the first psychedelic compound to be extracted and isolated.

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