Psychoactive drug

A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical that alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness, or behaviour. Such drugs are often used for recreational and spiritual purposes, as well as in medicine, especially for treating neurological and psychological illnesses.

1 Psychoactive drug chart
- 1.1 Legend
2 Other psychoactive drugs
3 Ways Psychoactive Drugs Affect The Brain
4 Related articles
5 External links

Psychoactive drug chart

	HALLUCINOGENS
	ANTIPSYCHOTICS
	Major Tranquilizers Atypical antipsychotics Typical antipsychotics
STIMULANTS	Seroquel Zyprexa		Haldol Thorazine	DEPRESSANTS
Psychomotor Stimulants Amphetamines Khat Ritalin Cocaine	Aminoketones Zyban Tenuate	SSRIs Paxil Prozac Zoloft	Minor Tranquilizers Ativan Valium Xanax Rohypnol
Other Sympathomimetic amines Ephedrine Pseudoephedrine		Cholinergics Nicotine Betel nut Muscarine	Other Sedative Hypnotics Alcohol Ether Chloral hydrate Barbituates GHB Chloroform Quaalude
Methylxanthines Caffeine Theobromine Theophylline	Psychedelics MDMA Mescaline DOM LSD Psilocybin	Cannabis	Dissociatives Ketamine PCP DXM Amanita muscaria Ibotenic acid Muscimol	Narcotic Analgesics Opium Codeine Morphine Heroin Fentanyl
	DMT	Ibogaine	Nitrous oxide Salvinorin Deliriants Dramamine Benadryl Atropine Scopolamine

Legend

Blue: Stimulants generally increase in potency to the upper left
Red: Depressants generally increase in potency to the lower right
Green: "Hallucinogens" are psychedelic to the left, dissociative to the right, and generally less predictable down and to the right
White: Cannabis, though considered psychedelic at high doses, stands on its own

Other psychoactive drugs

Aphrodisiacs
- PT-141

In a broader sense also:

Ways Psychoactive Drugs Affect The Brain

There are many ways in which psychoactive drugs can affect the brain. While some drugs affect neurons presynaptically, others act postsynpatically and some drugs don't even attack the synapse, working on neural axons instead. Here is a general breakdown of the ways psychoative drugs can work.

Prevent The Action Potential From Starting
- Lidocaine, TTX (they bind to voltage-gated sodium channels, so no action potential begins even when a generator potential passes threshold)
Neurotransmitter Synthesis
- Increase - L-Dopa, tryptophan, choline (precursors)
- Decrease - PCPA (inhibits synthesis of 5HT)
- Causes increased sensitivity to the five sences, due to an increasing number of signals being sent to the brain.
Neurotransmitter Packaging
- Increase - MAO Inhibitors
- Decreasing - Resperine (pokes holes in the synaptic vesicles of catecholamines)
Neurotransmitter Release
- Increase - Black Widow Spider (Ach)
- Decrease - Botulinum Toxin (Ach), Tetanus (GABA)
Agonists - Mimick the original NTs and activate the receptors
- Muscuraine, Nicotine (Ach)
- AMDA, NMDA (Glu)
- Alcohol, Benzodiazepines (GABA)
Antagonists - Bind to the receptor sites and block activation
- Atropine, Curare (Ach)
- PCP (Glu)
Prevent Ach Breakdown -
- Insecticides, Nerve Gas
Prevent Reuptake
- Cocaine (DA), Amphetamines (E)
- Tricyclics, SSRIs

- based on information taught in NSC 201, Vanderbilt University

External links

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Psychoactive drug

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