<p>A lot of your perception / thought process and content are affected by Serotonin and Dopamine. Many drugs act on 5HT / Serotonin<sup><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4813425/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a></sup> which augments the mechanisms / pathways  which are hard wired to your thoughts and perception of reality. As of personal experience serotonin affects more of the content of thoughts whereas dopamine also affects the structure / flow of thoughts.</p>
<p>To illustrate this: &quot;Serotonin is widely known for its effect on mood, but it also plays a role in memory, anger, fear, appetite, stress, addiction, sexual pleasure, sleep, pain [...]&quot;<sup><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545168/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2</a></sup> which all have an effect on the content of your thoughts. As you all probably experienced in  your life, a negative mood makes you inclined to negative thoughts, you all probably got angry because you were hungry.</p>
<p>Dopamine on the other hand is a neurotransmitter which plays a major role in psychosis<sup><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4032934/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3</a></sup>. Racing thoughts, paranoia and delusions also affect the content of thoughts but its structure / flow is augmented as well.</p>
<p>Both play a crucial role in affecting your thought processes which in turn are part of your perception of reality.</p>
<p>Your perception of reality is a very complex process and a multitude of factors play into it, but the structure and content of information that flows through your brain which is a mix of thoughts and sensory input which together make up much of your constructed reality in your brain. &quot;The brain constructs representations of what is sensed and thought about in the form of nerve impulses that propagate in circuits and network assemblies (Circuit Impulse Patterns, CIPs). CIP representations of which humans are consciously aware occur in the context of a sense of self.&quot; <sup><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163487/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">4</a></sup></p>
<p>I know from personal experience that perception of reality is affected by 5HT / D2 which is probably why drugs like LSD / MDMA / THC can induce mental illnesses such as depersonalization / dissociation / paranoia / psychosis. Those are all mental states which are affected a lot by neúrotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. <sup><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4032934/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">6</a></sup></p>
<p>Drugs act on these receptors and mechanism and augment pathways which influence neural patterns which ultimately make up your construct of reality.</p>
<p>In some cases paranoid thoughts also may induce fear which makes you less likely to question it's integrity and accept it as reality because you're in fight and flight mode.</p>
<p>With experience you can distinguish hallucinations from reality but it's still difficult to e.g. tell paranoid thoughts apart from rational thoughts.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-19T20:33:23.050Z
2023-12-19T21:46:17.047Z
2023-12-19T21:46:17.047Z
Moritz Roessler
<p>The question above mainly applies to <em>dramamine</em>. I've only taken 1 tablet for carsickness, but I have read about experiences with that drug. I'm including other drugs that can make you hallucinate and think it's real.</p>

<p>Furthermore, <strong>why can you still see the hallucinations as reality if you affirm to yourself that the things you see aren't real</strong>?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-23T21:14:05.797Z
Dramamine is in the same family as [Scoplomine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopolamine).  I think it would take a crate of it to actually have any side effects.
Chuck Sherrington
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-24T01:31:07.527Z
I'm not an expert, what I got from the linked talk is that our consciousness seamlessly blends all neural inputs into one subjective experience of reality. If you are hallucinating due to a chemical, you cannot eliminate the chemical from your brain with a thought (just like one cannot become sober by thinking).  So the neural input persists, regardless of your awareness. heres the talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_searle_our_shared_condition_consciousness.html
Alex Stone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-24T17:37:25.890Z
@ChuckSherrington I've never used it for recreation. I used one for motion sickness. It takes quite a bit for that effect. Heh..
CoonKitteh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-24T17:38:21.597Z
@AlexStone If you can put that in answer form, I'll best answer it.
CoonKitteh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-27T07:30:26.743Z
@CoonKitteh these drugs are called deliriants. unlike other hallucinogens, they result in the loss of insight that what one is experiencing is a hallucination. however, owing to the semantics you're using, what you're describing is not possible: "i know this feels real, but this is just a hallucination" is perfectly sound and has to do with the capacity to engage in reality testing, while you're saying: "this is real, but i know it's a hallucination".
faustus
<cognitive-psychology><psychopharmacology><hallucinations>
Why can some drugs make us hallucinate and think the hallucinations are reality?
CoonKitteh
# Why can some drugs make us hallucinate and think the hallucinations are reality?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-07-23)

The question above mainly applies to *dramamine*. I've only taken 1 tablet for carsickness, but I have read about experiences with that drug. I'm including other drugs that can make you hallucinate and think it's real.

Furthermore, **why can you still see the hallucinations as reality if you affirm to yourself that the things you see aren't real**?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, psychopharmacology, hallucinations

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Dramamine is in the same family as [Scoplomine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopolamine).  I think it would take a crate of it to actually have any side effects.  
> **username_2**: I'm not an expert, what I got from the linked talk is that our consciousness seamlessly blends all neural inputs into one subjective experience of reality. If you are hallucinating due to a chemical, you cannot eliminate the chemical from your brain with a thought (just like one cannot become sober by thinking).  So the neural input persists, regardless of your awareness. heres the talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_searle_our_shared_condition_consciousness.html  
> **username_0**: @ChuckSherrington I've never used it for recreation. I used one for motion sickness. It takes quite a bit for that effect. Heh..  
> **username_0**: @AlexStone If you can put that in answer form, I'll best answer it.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 these drugs are called deliriants. unlike other hallucinogens, they result in the loss of insight that what one is experiencing is a hallucination. however, owing to the semantics you're using, what you're describing is not possible: "i know this feels real, but this is just a hallucination" is perfectly sound and has to do with the capacity to engage in reality testing, while you're saying: "this is real, but i know it's a hallucination".  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2023-12-19. Score: 0

A lot of your perception / thought process and content are affected by Serotonin and Dopamine. Many drugs act on 5HT / Serotonin[1](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4813425/) which augments the mechanisms / pathways which are hard wired to your thoughts and perception of reality. As of personal experience serotonin affects more of the content of thoughts whereas dopamine also affects the structure / flow of thoughts.

To illustrate this: "Serotonin is widely known for its effect on mood, but it also plays a role in memory, anger, fear, appetite, stress, addiction, sexual pleasure, sleep, pain [...]"[2](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545168/) which all have an effect on the content of your thoughts. As you all probably experienced in your life, a negative mood makes you inclined to negative thoughts, you all probably got angry because you were hungry.

Dopamine on the other hand is a neurotransmitter which plays a major role in psychosis[3](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4032934/). Racing thoughts, paranoia and delusions also affect the content of thoughts but its structure / flow is augmented as well.

Both play a crucial role in affecting your thought processes which in turn are part of your perception of reality.

Your perception of reality is a very complex process and a multitude of factors play into it, but the structure and content of information that flows through your brain which is a mix of thoughts and sensory input which together make up much of your constructed reality in your brain. "The brain constructs representations of what is sensed and thought about in the form of nerve impulses that propagate in circuits and network assemblies (Circuit Impulse Patterns, CIPs). CIP representations of which humans are consciously aware occur in the context of a sense of self." [4](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163487/)

I know from personal experience that perception of reality is affected by 5HT / D2 which is probably why drugs like LSD / MDMA / THC can induce mental illnesses such as depersonalization / dissociation / paranoia / psychosis. Those are all mental states which are affected a lot by neúrotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. [6](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4032934/)

Drugs act on these receptors and mechanism and augment pathways which influence neural patterns which ultimately make up your construct of reality.

In some cases paranoid thoughts also may induce fear which makes you less likely to question it's integrity and accept it as reality because you're in fight and flight mode.

With experience you can distinguish hallucinations from reality but it's still difficult to e.g. tell paranoid thoughts apart from rational thoughts.


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