When describing various types of psychedelic drugs, a “dreamlike” state often appears on the list of effects. This can occur with magic truffles, magic mushrooms, mescaline, LSD, LSA, and even marijuana. At the same time, more and more people are trying to lucid dream—in short, this means being able to exert a high degree of control over a dream. But what are the similarities and differences between these two ways of “dreaming”? And could it be that psychedelics simply let us dream while we’re awake? Let’s take a look…
“I believe that lucid dreaming is extremely close to the experience evoked by LSD and other psychedelics”
Visual and auditory hallucinations
First of all, psychedelic substances such as LSD, mescaline, Salvia divinorum, DMT, psilocybin, and ketamine do not all work in the same way. Every trip with the same chemical would have a different outcome each time. This is largely due to the mental state and setting in which the trip is experienced. What does, however, remain consistent across most of these psychedelics is the way in which “dreams” manifest before a person’s eyes. Visual and auditory hallucinations are often present—and a recent study indicates that the way these hallucinations occur may well correspond to our dreams.
"I believe that lucid dreaming is extremely close to the experience evoked by LSD and other psychedelics. Lucidity is the key to the psychedelic experience: users do not lose sight of the fact that they are undergoing an altered state of consciousness,” says researcher Enzo Tagliazucchi, a neuroscientist at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina
Lucid dreaming
Taking hallucinogenic drugs actually puts people into dream-like states, according to research that statistically compared the way people talk about dreams with the way they talk about the effects of drugs, including LSD, magic mushrooms, and mescaline. LSD is the drug most likely to induce a lucid dream-like state, in which the dreamer knows they are dreaming and can largely control the actions within the dream. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.
The similarities between dreams and psychedelic trips were striking. People described visual hallucinations ranging from mild distortions to fully complex images.
Tagliazucchi’s goal was to shed light on the experiences of hallucinogenic drugs while also explaining the mystique behind dreams. Comparing the subjective experience of a hallucinogen with a specific aspect of neurochemistry could help explain how the brain spontaneously generates dreams, Tagliazucchi said in an interview.
"I am amazed by the range of different experiences a person can have throughout their life. By this I mean qualitatively different experiences—this isn’t like eating two different flavors of ice cream, but rather being in very different states such as wakefulness, dreaming, deep sleep, coma, deep meditation, and under the influence of various psychoactive drugs,” he says about the research.
Hallucinogens
For the study, Tagliazucchi and his colleagues turned to an online platform where people describe their experiences with various substances. They compared this with another platform containing a database of over 200,000 dream reports, which noted whether the dreams were lucid or not. The researchers compared the self-reports to determine how similar the experiences were.
The result? The top 20 drugs that caused experiences most resembling dreams were all hallucinogenic. Three, however, were not: THC, Salvia Divinorum, and MDMA. The similarities between dreams and the psychedelic trip were often striking. People described visual hallucinations, ranging from mild distortions—such as colorful “trails” trailing behind moving objects—to fully complex images. In addition, many individuals reported a high degree of unreality and a loss of connection with their bodies.
“The average law-abiding citizen in industrialized Western society doesn’t know what the psychedelic experience feels like,” Tagliazucchi said in a later interview. “Most people are aware that a molecule called ‘LSD’ had a profound impact on the society, culture, and politics of the U.S. and the rest of the world in the 1960s. And even if they’ve read detailed descriptions of what happens after taking LSD, despite this theoretical knowledge, the firsthand experience is unknown to most of society,” he continues.
“Perhaps if we acknowledge that psychedelics lead to an experience similar to dreaming, this transition can be accelerated. Perhaps the ban on psychedelics should be reconsidered”
Psychedelics and the Brain
Tagliazucchi also notes that some of the similarities and differences reflect how psychedelics affect the brain and how dreams are formed. Psychedelic images are usually less complex than dream images, and people don’t always know they’re dreaming, whereas they generally realize they’re having a psychedelic experience, he said. According to the researcher, this may be related to the fact that the neurotransmitter serotonin is not produced during dream states. Meanwhile, psychedelics often do interact with this neurotransmitter and sometimes act in virtually the same way. In fact, it may be this reaction in our brain that actually induces the dream state during psychedelic drug use.
"In general, there is strong evidence that LSD is a very safe drug, both from a psychological and physical standpoint, and many scientists and doctors around the world are proposing a change in current legislation," said Tagliazucchi. “Perhaps if we recognize that psychedelics lead to an experience similar to dreaming, this transition can be accelerated. Perhaps the ban on psychedelics should be reconsidered.”
