Psychedelics selectively bind to a certain type of serotonin receptor in the brain, this being an important mechanism underlying their effect. The serotonergic system also responds specifically to sound, and this property of psychedelics is also what influences music perception while under their influence.
Brain regions governing emotional processing appear to be recruited by the interaction of psychedelics and music, and the musical quality of timbre or tone quality appears to play an important role in eliciting heightened emotional states under psychedelics.
When used in a therapeutic context, music is one of the primary sensory inputs people experience. When psychedelics are used in this context, people tend to be lying down on a sofa or bed, wearing eyeshades and headphones – the action is taking place internally, and music is acting at various times as anchor, propellant and guide.
Music may be the primary sensory input people experience for many hours during a psychedelic session. The integral importance of music in influencing positive outcomes in psychedelic therapy was recognised in the first wave of psychedelic research in the 1950’s and 60’s before prohibition.
The openness and receptivity of the psychedelic state powerfully synergises with music, and by shaping the psychedelic experience in a deep and fundamental way, music has the power to shape not just the experience itself, but the long-term outcomes associated with it.
Musical selection in the acute psychedelic state may even have the potential to affect personality change in an enduring sense post session, through driving brain entropy which influences openness post experience, and by helping catalyse psychological insight, may in turn help reduce neuroticism, this having important therapeutic implications.
