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by JonnieCache 5468 days ago
Fundamentally, the clinical definition of "hallucination" does not apply to 90% of the effects of psychedelic drugs. "Perceptual disturbances" would be the correct term.

A hallucination is the perception of something that is not there at all, and it generally means that the thing is sincerely perceived as real.

Psychedelic experiences typically fulfil neither of these criteria.
1 comments
gnosis 5468 days ago
Many people genuinely believe that when they take these substances they are communing with the universe, with god(s), aliens, ancestors, or the deep levels of their own subconscious.

To call such experiences mere "hallucinations" or "perceptual disturbances" is both reductionist and dismissive.

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JonnieCache 5468 days ago
To tell someone to their face that their experiences amounted to nothing more than perceptual disturbances would be at best rude, and at worst cruel, agreed.

However I think it's appropriate vocabulary when attempting objective analysis of neurological/psychological phenomena. Reductionism is an inevitable and valid criticism of any such analysis.

(When I said "real" in this instance I was referring to the physical existence of objects perceived, your ability to reach out and touch them. I wasn't trying to make a value judgement about the validity or authenticity of anyones subjective experiences.)

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gnosis 5468 days ago
"I think it's appropriate vocabulary when attempting objective analysis of neurological/psychological phenomena"

Without getting in to a deep conversation on objectivity, neurology, and psychology, I'll just say that I don't think these issues are so clear cut as to allow anyone to definitively say that he's on the side of truth and the phenomena he describes are "nothing but X", whatever that "X" may be.

"When I said "real" in this instance I was referring to the physical existence of objects perceived, your ability to reach out and touch them."

There are plenty of things that, even according to the "scientific" world view, purportedly exist and yet can't be touched or directly percieved, such as x-rays and atoms.

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