Empathogenic - a.k.a. Entactogenic - drugs are a wide-ranging group of compounds (e.g. MDMA) which produce experiences described as emotional communion, empathy or sympathy for others, oneness, relatedness, and emotional openness.

The term was first used in the mid 1980s, though many of the drugs concerned date from much earlier. (e.g. MDMA, 1920).

Several of the drugs are currently the subject of intense research to discover whether they may be helpful in treating disorders which have opposite symptoms such as antagonism and indifference (e.g. psychopathic disorder).

Details of how or why the drugs reliably produce such effects are entirely unknown.

See: Wikipedia

Also see : Psychedelic drugsplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigPsychedelic drugs

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Psychedelic drugs currently have a circular definition. Classed as hallucinogenic psychoactive drugs which have the primary effect of triggering non-ordinary states of consciousness - termed 'psychedelic' experiences.

Many of the known psychedelic substances have been found to bind-to and activate the brain's serotonin 5-HT