Salvia divinorum induces body awareness changes comparable to metamorphic symptoms in the Alice in Wonderland syndrome

Salvia divinorum, a plant used by Mazatec shamans, contains Salvinorin A, the strongest known psychedelic plant compound, which binds to kappa opioid receptors. Its effects include sudden, drastic changes in body schema, such as macro-somatognosia—feeling that the body or its parts grow larger—resembling Alice in Wonderland syndrome. These phenomena are discussed in relation to neurophenomenological concepts of body schema and cortical spreading depression.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Modern rituals based on the use of shamanic plants are becoming more popular in the European countries and in the USA since the last decades. Salvia divinorum (SD) is such a plant, for ages and still used by the Mazatec shamans for initiation purposes. SD contains a great number of diterpenes of which Salvinorin A is quite remarkable, as to date it is the strongest psychedelic plant compound we know of. Its high affinity to the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) however does not explain all of its effects. We will highlight a special effect related to the sudden and drastic changes in body schema after administering SD extracts, metamorphic symptoms, especially macro-somatognosia, in which one feels that the body or its parts are growing taller or larger, which resemble one of the key symptoms of the Alice in Wonderland syndrome. We will discuss these phenomena in the light of the neurophenomenological concepts of our body schema and cortical spreading depression. *Correspondence to: Jan M Keppel Hesselink, Institute for Neuropathic Pain, Bosch en Duin, Netherlands, E-mail: jan@neuropathie.nu