Psychedelic therapy Psychedelic therapy Psychedelic therapy refers to therapeutic practices involving psychedelic drugs, oftentimes utilizing serotonergic psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, DMT, MDMA, mescaline, and 2C-B. Psychedelic therapy, in contrast to conventional psychiatric medication taken by the patient regularly or as-needed, patients generally remain in an extended psychotherapy session during the acute psychedelic activity with additional sessions both before and after in order to help integrate experiences with the drug. Psychedelic therapy, in the broadest possible sense of the term, may have originated from prehistoric knowledge of hallucinogenic plants. They grow naturally in certain cacti, seeds, bark and roots of various plants.
Mescaline and activates the serotonin 5-HT receptor with a high affinity. How activating the 5-HT receptor leads to psychedelia is still unknown, but it is likely that somehow it involves excitation of neurons in the prefrontal cortex. Mescaline is also known to bind to and activate the serotonin 5-HT receptor. Difluoromescaline and trifluoromescaline are more potent than mescaline, as is its amphetamine homologue trimethoxyamphetamine. In the United States, mescaline was made illegal in 1970 by the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, categorized as a Schedule I hallucinogen. The drug was prohibited internationally by the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.