PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES: THEIR CONNECTION TO TRANSCENDENT EXPERIENCES AND PSYCHOTIC PHENOMENA

Abstract

This paper is a literature review with the aim of investigating the relationship between drug use and the occurrence of psychotic disorders/symptoms or transcendental experiences. The purpose of it is to analyze the historical evidence and scientific data that exist regarding the use of drugs in the occurrence of psychosis or transcendent experience. Initially, both the theoretical background of substance use and the most basic drugs in combination with their effect on the human body are analyzed. Cannabis is the substance that is given the greatest basis and is examined as both an epidemiological and social phenomenon, according to its position in modern reality. Subsequently, the concept of psychotic disorders is analyzed, with emphasis on schizophrenia and its symptomatology. One of the central issues of the thesis is the investigation of the relationship between cannabis and psychosis, according to the research data that exist today. In addition, the historical course of drug use from ancient Greece and other civilizations to modern Psychiatry is examined, as well as the concept of so-called entheogenic substances in the context of transcendental experiences. The bibliographic review demonstrates that cannabis use carries an increased risk of psychotic symptomatology, without of course this relationship being unidimensional. The phenomenon must be studied as it is multifactorial, so that effective interventions can ultimately be developed.