Deliriant

The deliriants (or anticholinergics) are a special class of dissociatives which are antagonists for the acetylcholine receptors (unlike muscarine which is an agonist of this receptor). Deliriants are considered to be true hallucinogens as users will have conversations with people who aren't there, or become angry with a 'person' mimicking their actions, not realizing it is their own reflection in a mirror (a situation which could be dangerous if they became aggressive towards a glass mirror). The anticholinergics have effects akin to sleepwalking (particularly in that the subject doesn't remember what happened).

Included in this group are such Solanaceae plants as deadly nightshade, mandrake, henbane and datura (sometimes referred to as the Belladonna alkaloids), as well as a number of pharmaceutical drugs such as the antihistamine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and the antiemetics dimenhydrinate (Dramamine or Gravol) and scopolamine.

In addition to the danger of being far more "out of it" than with other drugs, and retaining a truly fragmented dissociation from regular consciousness without being immobilized (imagine sleepwalking on drugs while having a nightmare), the anticholinergics are toxic, can cause death due to overdose, and also include plenty of uncomfortable side effects including an intense drying effect where sweat, saliva, mucus and urination are prevented, as well as a pronounced dilation of the pupils which can last for several days resulting in sensitivity to light, blurry vision and inability to read.

Deliriants are common to European mythology, including the plants mandrake, deadly nightshade, and various datura species.

Pharmacological classes of deliriants, and their general subjective effects

Tropanes

Antihistaminics

See also

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Pharmacological classes of deliriants, and their general subjective effects

Tropanes

Antihistaminics

See also