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  • DMT is an intense naturally-occurring psychedelic that's been taken for centuries.

  • The drug is typically used via inhalation or is taken orally in the form of an ayahuasca-like

  • preparation.

  • Although it's not as popular as LSD or psilocybin, it is a widely discussed and used psychedelic.

  • DMT is also present endogenously in the human body.

  • As always, there will be more information and links to references on TheDrugClassroom.com

  • which you can find using the link below.

  • Among the potential positive effects are closed and open eye visuals, spiritual or otherwise

  • meaningful experiences, euphoria, mood lift, and auditory hallucinations.

  • The negative effects can include increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, fear,

  • anxiety, and paranoia.

  • Although I won't fully discuss ayahuasca here, it does come with some other common effects

  • that may be considered negative such as vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea.

  • DMT's effects depend on the dose, though the vast majority of attention is given to its

  • peak effects.

  • At low doses, it might provide some mood effects, such as anxiolysis and mood elevation.

  • These doses typically aren't very hallucinogenic, but they can lead to objects vibrating, items

  • becoming more colorful, and the appearance of slight geometric patterns.

  • More complete doses come with effects that are highly variable between users, but some

  • parts of the experience can be placed into typical groups.

  • Multiple proposals have been made regarding how to group the effects and experiences.

  • One commonality between them is that the lowest or initial stage of an experience contains

  • colorful geometry of increasing prominence in the visual field and behind closed eyes.

  • A step up from this is the progression to being immersed in what seems like a different

  • world.

  • Sometimes a further peak experience of white light and euphoria is obtained, although the

  • immersion into another world is the most commonly discussed experience.

  • Depending on dose and individual response, you may only reach the initial stage.

  • Although you can group the effects, the actual contents of a full immersive experience differ

  • between users.

  • Here are some of the common elements:

  • A full replacement of normal reality with an "alternate universe."

  • The universe can include visual objects and even seemingly sentient, intelligent, or powerful

  • entities that sometimes interact with the user.

  • Regardless of eyes being closed or open there is rapidly changing "kaleidoscopic" imagery.

  • A feeling of euphoria is often present following an initial period of anxiety.

  • Some users report laughter, calmness, or a feeling of joy.

  • Although it's possible to experience significant anxiety and fear during the entire experience.

  • And other users don't report any discernible feelings during the peak effects.

  • There's also a dissociation from the body and, when your eyes are closed in particular,

  • a disconnection from normal reality.

  • This can mean no longer feeling your body and sometimes at least a partial disconnection

  • from "self" occurs as well.

  • Disconnecting from the "self" or your mind may include an absence of thoughts or a temporary

  • lack of personal memories.

  • Lastly, another common element is that people report the experience feels as real or more

  • real than normal reality or dreaming.

  • Not all of these effects appear for everyone, but they're a general outline of a full DMT

  • experience.

  • There's also a pretty typical progression of the experience with a full dose.

  • Initially there's a "rush" phase during which you may feel disoriented and like you're being

  • rocketed to a new location.

  • Your head may feel like it's intensely vibrating.

  • This can be accompanied by a sound, usually of a high-pitch, such as a whine.

  • This initial period is often filled with transient anxiety brought on by the intensity of the

  • effect.

  • The rush progresses towards a detachment or dissociation from the body and normal reality.

  • People sometimes remain partly connected to normal reality with their eyes open, depending

  • on the dose.

  • The "rush" is followed either by a full breakthrough experience or first by a brief waiting period.

  • When the waiting period is present, which it isn't for everyone, it may be filled with

  • colors and a sense that an experience is about to unfold.

  • Users can feel like they're moving, such as heading down a tunnel.

  • And the internal feeling and progression is sometimes described like that of a rollercoaster.

  • When it comes to the contents of a full experience, it's difficult to give a description.

  • As was previously noted, there are often impressive geometric patterns and incredibly bright or

  • intense colors.

  • There can also be non-earth landscapes and environments.

  • Euphoria is a common feeling, along with a sense of wonder, amazement, and confusion.

  • A few general categories for the type of experiences someone can have were put forth by Rick Strassman,

  • who carried out DMT research.

  • The first is "personal," which are experiences based around personal issues, which might

  • be difficult to accept.

  • The second is "transpersonal," which are novel experiences in terms of quality and intensity

  • but they have some basis in the subject's previous experience.

  • Mystical and near-death-type experiences may be grouped in this category.

  • And the third is "invisible worlds," which involve encounters with autonomous, freestanding

  • realities seemingly inhabited by alien beings capable of interaction.

  • Strassman reported that around half of volunteers receiving a high dose of DMT reported an "invisible

  • worlds" experience at least once.

  • Just to give an idea of the range of things witnessed during the experiences, people have

  • reported everything from "high-tech machine-like objects" to "a ballroom with crystal chandeliers"

  • to "circus imagery."

  • A key component of many experiences is ineffability, or the inability to describe the effects with

  • language.

  • Not only can people struggle to impart their experiences onto others, they themselves may

  • recall just a small portion of what was experienced.

  • This is often because there's an overwhelming amount of data in the form of feelings or

  • visual perception.

  • Entities are clearly an interesting part of the experience.

  • They don't always appear and many people use DMT without encountering them, but they are

  • frequently reported.

  • Again, there's massive variation.

  • People come back describing the entities as elves, spirits, gods, dwarfs, reptiles, insects,

  • mantises, stick figures, and sometimes just an unseen but felt "presence."

  • Those descriptions typically aren't meant to be precise.

  • For example, if someone describes "elves," that's largely due to it being the best available

  • term.

  • It's not because the elves people usually think of are exactly what was seen.

  • These things may interact in the form of welcoming the user, laughing, or seemingly imparting

  • some sort of wisdom.

  • They may also just probe or examine the user.

  • And sometimes they don't even acknowledge the user.

  • Although the entities are more often described as benign and even helpful, they can sometimes

  • be persecutory and antagonistic.

  • Users tend to have the feeling that these beings are not a part of themselves, but this

  • may very well just be a feeling.

  • While people are under the influence, they usually don't move much or at all.

  • Sometimes deep breathing is present, the user's mouth may be partly open, and there can be

  • REM-like movements behind the eyelids.

  • The main acute negative psychological effects are anxiety and confusion.

  • Paranoia, including feeling like you or others are being controlled by an outside force,

  • is also sometimes encountered.

  • These effects normally fade away quickly, but you should definitely be cautious when

  • it comes to using the drug.

  • Ayahuaca will be fully explored in a separate video, but since DMT is a key component of

  • it, I'll briefly mention it.

  • The term traditionally refers to Banisteriopsis caapi, though it's come to refer to a brew

  • made up of Caapi and Psychotria viridis, which contains DMT.

  • Using it orally lengthens the effect to 3 to 4 hours and reduces the peak intensity

  • and ineffability.

  • Although it can still be a very intense effect and it may be even more intense in terms of

  • the emotional and psychological impact.

  • Some medical applications for DMT have been explored.

  • Much of the data involves ayahuasca, which complicates matters.

  • Three areas where DMT or ayahuasca may have some efficacy are depression, anxiety, and

  • addiction.

  • But there's relatively little research in all of those cases.

  • It's worth exploring given the drug's effect and the trend towards efficacy that has been

  • shown so far.

  • The endogenous nature of the substance has led to multiple hypotheses about its potential

  • role, assuming it even has one.

  • A popular, though minimally supported hypothesis, is that it plays a role in dreaming, near-death

  • experiences, or naturally arising spiritual experiences.

  • Other proposals are that it could be an immune system modulator or a tool that helps the

  • brain survive potentially life-threatening conditions.

  • Although it was once posited to be the cause of schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis,

  • that's no longer really supported.

  • But some people still think it could have an impact on psychiatric illness.

  • Even in healthy people some proposals are that it could regulate mood and anxiety.

  • In each of these cases we need a lot more research to figure out what it might be doing.

  • One last point to round out this section is that DMT differs from other psychedelics in

  • that it effectively lacks a tolerance.

  • It's possible to use the drug multiple times per day.

  • When inhaled, DMT lasts 10 to 15 minutes and begins working in under 30 seconds.

  • Some effects may appear by 15 seconds, subsequently building to the full effect within a minute

  • or two.

  • Orally the duration is 3 to 4 hours and the onset is 30 to 45 minutes.

  • DMT is the simplest of the common tryptamine hallucinogens.

  • It is structurally similar to melatonin and serotonin.

  • It's also similar to other psychedelics, such as 5-MeO-DMT.

  • The drug is found in other animals and is widespread in the plant kingdom.

  • Among its sources are Psychotria viridis, Diplopterys cabrerana, and Mimosa tenuiflora.

  • Other plants have historically been taken intranasally, but DMT is typically a minor

  • constituent.

  • Ayahuasca is classically made with Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, the latter providing

  • the DMT.

  • Brews sometimes contain other hallucinogenic, stimulating, or otherwise active drugs.

  • This makes ayahuasca a more complex pharmacological substance.

  • After decades of research we now have pretty good evidence for the endogenous nature of

  • DMT.

  • It's believed to be synthesized beginning with tryptophan, which is used to form tryptamine.

  • An enzyme called INMT catalyzes the addition of methyl groups to tryptamine.

  • This leads to n-methyltryptamine and then to DMT.