By Shneur Agronin, Arts and Culture Editor
When you hear the word “psychedelic,” you probably envision a classic 1960s hippy decked out in a tie-dye ensemble and sandals, reclining in the back of a beat-up Volkswagen van, and traveling to universes far stranger than our own by consuming substances of questionable legality. While the origins of modern psychedelic use in Western society may not starkly differ from such a scene, its trajectory could lead into the world of clinical psychology and therapy.
Most people have heard of substances such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD, commonly known as “acid” and first synthesized in the 1930s) or psilocybin (the psychoactive component of some fungi, commonly known as “shrooms”), and might know a bit about their effects. Consuming high doses of LSD (150-250 micrograms) and psilocybin (15-25 milligrams), among others, can induce powerful hallucinations and significantly altered perceptions of reality. While the recreational use of psychedelics has a relatively rich recent history, psychologists have only recently turned their professional attention toward them since the turn of the millennium.
Numerous modern studies point toward the therapeutic benefits of controlled, monitored use of psychedelics, primarily in tandem with traditional psychotherapy. Among the many psychedelic substances known to us today, one specifically has taken on an ominous reputation: salvinorin A, the psychoactive compound of the salvia divinorum plant (commonly known as “salvia” and a member of the same botanical family as mint), originating in southern Mexico and used for millennia by Mazatec shamans in religious rites.
Around 15 to 20 years ago, salvia surged in use among teenagers and college students, and many reported horrifying experiences with the drug. While salvia remains a federally legal substance in the United States, state lawmakers in the mid-to-late 2000s rode a wave of parental concern and many state legislatures passed bills criminalizing the sale of salvia (including New York in 2017).
Chris Mandel, known professionally as Cloudless Rain, is an expert psychedelic practitioner (or “psychonaut”) specializing in the use of salvia for meditative and self-exploratory purposes, and he laments this reality and everything which led to it. In an interview with the YU Observer, Mandel, an open-minded and in many ways enlightened man, stated that salvia is not a “party drug.” In general, substances like phencyclidine (commonly known by its initials “PCP” or “angel dust”) and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, commonly known as “ecstacy”), among many others of chemically similar nature, are often illegally distributed and consumed at parties and music festivals around the world. While both substances produce mild psychedelic effects (hallucinations and altered perceptions of time), their primary function and appeal lie in how they trigger extreme releases of serotonin and dopamine in the brain (not dissimilar to opioids). Salvia, Mandel notes, works quite differently.
Most psychedelics inhibit normal neurological behavior as it relates to the release of serotonin (primarily by binding to 5-HT1A and 5-HT2B receptors). Since serotonin plays important roles in the regulation of memory, wakefulness, and mood, it isn’t surprising that altering normal levels of this hormone in the brain would produce some significantly abnormal sensations and experiences. Salvinorin A works much more similarly to opioids (such as morphine, heroin, or fentanyl) by bonding to opioid receptors found in and around the amygdala, or the brain’s emotional response center.
“It [salvinorin A] triggers the kappa opioid receptors [KORs] which work as the ‘brakes’ on your desire,” Mandel explained, specifying that salvinorin A bonds exclusively to KORs which, in contrast to other receptors, only manage pain perception and consciousness without triggering euphoric or pleasurable sensations. With KOR activity influenced by salvinorin A, the amygdala and other areas of the hindbrain function far differently than they normally do, triggering the primary distinguishing characteristic of a salvia trip: feelings of being twisted or contorted, followed by a perceived loss of contact with the body (a sensation known as dissociation). Since salvinorin A generally induces auditory and visual hallucinations, the two effects in tandem plunge the user (at improperly high doses) into an entirely foreign world. Often, it’s not a welcoming one.
“The number of people who have [overdosed] on salvia is zero,” Mandel noted, highlighting the relative safety of salvinorin A, especially when taken in low doses (around 100 micrograms to a milligram). The LD50 measure for salvinorin A, a figure which denotes an amount lethal to 50% of those exposed to it, is thought to be incredibly high. In other words, salvinorin A, as far as we know now, isn’t capable of causing lethal overdoses in any amounts remotely consumable through “standard” methods (inhalation and oral ingestion). Therefore, salvia has the potential to be deemed a medically safe substance, and the therapeutic benefits of its dissociative effect, which Mandel described, can foster a temporary disconnection from yourself, making an examination of areas of your emotional state, including trauma and generally disturbing “territory” which most prefer to avoid, significantly easier.
At higher doses, a salvia trip could prove far too intense to permit conscious or coherent thought, and for this reason, Mandel highly discourages consuming salvia in this manner. At lower doses, salvia provides a sort of “short cut” to remarkable mindfulness while allowing users to “remain home” and actively think about their experience in the moment. For this reason, when used in a medical setting, salvia could potentially be used as a tool in the assessment, mental processing of, and ultimately, healing from, negative emotional experiences and deeply ingrained trauma.
The era of heavy stigma surrounding psychedelic substances may be coming to an end. An increasingly large pool of data suggests that the introspection and altered states of perception facilitated and induced by psychedelics, including salvia divinorum, could prove effective in the treatment of anxiety, depressive, obsessive, and trauma disorders, especially in tandem with psychotherapy and in the event that traditional medication fails or is unsustainable. Whether or not psychedelics do find a role in the future of applied psychotherapy, academic and anecdotal evidence suggests that these chemical compounds might hold the key to quicker, more meaningful, and long-lasting growth and recovery in the area of mental health.