This article breaks down the subjective effects of the dissociative experience into simple and easy
to understand descriptions with accompanying image replications. This is done without resorting to metaphor,
analogy, or personal trip reports.
These descriptions are not specific to any particular substance but are applicable to the effects
which commonly occur in various forms under the influence of almost any dissociative compound. This
includes, but is not limited to, both classical and research chemical dissociatives, such as:
Individual effects are also summarized with a prominent link to their full article.
Disconnective Effects
Disconnective effects are any subjective effect which feels as if it detaches or disconnects one from the external environment,
their senses, and their consciousness.
These effects are typically associated with dissociative hallucinogens and likely
occur due to the way in which these compounds function as NMDA receptor antagonists.
This means they bind to the receptor, but do not activate it and block other
neurotransmitters from doing so. The result is a dose-dependent decrease in the
passing of electrical signals across the brain and an overall disconnection of neurons,
which leads to states of disconnection between conscious parts of the brain and its
sensory organs.
Physical disconnection is the experience of feeling distant and detached from one's sense of touch and their feelings of ownership and control over their own physical body. This leads into states such as tactile suppression, physical autonomy, pain relief, changes in felt bodily form, a perception of bodily lightness, and a general array of physical suppressions. The experience of this effect can also create a wide range of subjective changes to a person's perception of their own body. These are described and documented in the list below:
Feeling as if one’s body is not their own
Feeling as if one’s body is controlling itself
Feeling as if one’s body is distant and far away
Feeling as if one’s bodily movement is mechanical and robotic
Feeling a decrease in one’s ability to use fine motor control
Feeling a decrease in one’s ability to use and perceive their sense of touch
Physical disconnection is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as cognitive disconnection and visual disconnection in a manner which results in the sensation that one is partially or completely detaching from both their sensory input and their cognitive faculties. This effect is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of depressant and dissociative compounds, such as, ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
Cognitive disconnection is the experience of feeling distant and detached from one's sense of identity, thought stream, and general cognitive processes. This leads into states such as depersonalisation, derealisation, memory suppression, "ego death" and a general array of cognitive suppressions. The experience of this can also create a wide range of subjective changes to a person's perception of their own consciousness. These are described and documented in the list below:
Feeling as though one’s conscious thought stream and memories are not one’s own
Feeling as if one’s conscious thought processes are distant and vague
Feeling as if one’s conscious thought processes have become autonomous and mechanical in their structure or behaviour
Feeling a decrease in the overall speed, connectivity, and analytical abilities of one’s cognitive abilities
Cognitive disconnection is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as visual disconnection and physical disconnection. This results in the sensation that one is partially or completely detaching from both their sensory input and their conscious faculties. It is a near-universal effect under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
Visual disconnection is the experience of becoming distant and detached from one's sense of vision. At its lower levels, this leads into states such as acuity suppression, double vision, pattern recognition suppression, and frame rate suppression. The experience of this effect can also create a wide range of subjective changes to a person's perception of their own vision. These are described and documented in the list below:
Feeling as if one is watching the world through a screen
Blurred vision and a general difficulty in perceiving fine details
Feeling as if the visually perceivable world is further away in distance
Feeling as if one is looking at the world through someone else’s eyes
Double vision which, at higher levels, forces the user to close one eye if they need to read or perceive fine visual details
Visual disconnection is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as cognitive disconnection and physical disconnection. This results in the sensation that one is partially or completely detaching from both their sensory input and their conscious faculties. It is a near-universal effect under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
Holes, spaces, and voids
Holes, spaces and voids are a sub-component of visual disconnection that manifests when it has become all-encompassing in its intensity. This experience is more commonly known within the literature as the "K-hole"
[1]
[2]
and is generally discussed as something which is specifically associated with ketamine despite being present within most traditional dissociatives. It can be described as the place a person finds themselves in once visual disconnection becomes powerful enough to leave the person incapable of receiving external sensory input. This replaces their visual input with a space that subjectively feels as if it is outside of normal reality.
The K-hole by
Josie Kins -
This replication serves as a third person perspective replication of a K-hole experience.
The visual appearance of this space, hole, or void can be described as a vast, mostly empty and darkened chamber which often feels and appears to be infinite in size. This space is usually dark black in its colour but can occasionally display itself with large patches of slow-moving amorphous colour clouds or subtle geometric patterns across its horizon. At its higher levels, these voids are often populated with hallucinatory structures which are comprehensively described and documented in the subsection below.
Alongside this visual experience changes in gravity and a powerful sense of tactile disconnection are also usually present which can result in one feeling as if they are undergoing an out-of-body experience while weightlessly floating through a void over great distances in a variety of different speeds, directions, and orientations. This is a feeling that is interpreted by many people as floating through space or the night sky.
Structures
Structures are the only feature found within what would otherwise be completely empty and uninhabited voids. These manifest as the visual experience of monolithic 3-dimensional shapes or structures of an infinite variety and size which float above, below, around, or in front of a person as they gradually zoom, rotate, transform, or pan into focus and become unveiled before the person's line of sight at a gradual pace.
Basic Structures by
StasConstantine -
This animation serves as some examples of level 3 hallucinatory structures within a standard dissociative void
These structures can take the form of any shape but common examples include vast and giant pillars, columns, tunnels, blocks, buildings, slides, monuments, wheels, pyramids, caves, and a variety of abstract shapes. They are often fractal in shape and can manifest in a variety of colours, but usually follow darker themes and tones with an associated aesthetic that is sometimes subjectively interpreted as "alien" in nature.
At lower levels, structures structures are are overly simplistic in shape some basic detail to their lighting and shadows. They appear to be comprised of semi-transparent condensed colour and are seen as ill-defined or out of focus around their edges. However, at higher levels, structures become fully defined in their shape, edges, lighting, shadow, and detail. They often appear to be made of solid and dense realistic materials such as stone and metal. In terms of their size, they become capable of appearing as thousands of miles across themselves and are often extremely complex in terms of their shape and texture.
Structures typically display themselves from anywhere between 30 seconds to several minutes before the person experiencing them slips back into reality or into the presence of another structure. In terms of how these structures shift between each other, their transition processes can consist of transforming their shape into that of another structure, panning out of view until another structure then pans into view, or remaining stationary whilst one is floating silently between them over what can feel like extreme physical distances.
Miscellaneous Sensory Effects
In this context, miscellaneous sensory effects are any subjective experience which alters a person's visual, tactile, or
gustatory senses.
Acuity suppression is the degradation of the sharpness and clarity of vision, resulting in vision becoming partially to completely blurred and indistinct. This effect may affect the entirety of the person's vision or specific sections of it. The experience of acuity suppression is comparable to looking through an out of focus lens which degrades the detail one can see in the external environment. Depending on its intensity, this can often result in a reduced ability to function and perform basic tasks which necessitate the use of sight.
Acuity suppression is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as double vision and pattern recognition suppression. This effect is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of depressant and dissociative compounds, such as alcohol, quetiapine, ketamine, and DXM.
Blurry Housing by
Josie Kins -
this replication serves as an accurate representation of high level acuity suppression.
Auditory suppression is the experience of sound becoming perceived as more distant, quiet, and muffled than they actually are. This effect can significantly decrease both the volume of a noise, as well as its perceived quality. It is usually described as making it difficult to comprehend or fully pay attention to music and other sounds.
Auditory suppression is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as auditory distortions and auditory hallucinations. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM. However, it can also occur less commonly under the influence of GABAergic depressants and antipsychotics such as alcohol and quetiapine.
Double vision is the experience of seeing duplicated vision, similar to that which occurs when one crosses their eyes. Depending on the intensity, this effect can result in a reduced ability to function and perform basic tasks which necessitate the use of sight.
At lower levels, double vision is subtle and mostly ignorable in a manner which, although obviously present, is still not intense enough to render the person incapable of perceiving visual details necessary for tasks such as reading text or crossing a busy street. However, at higher levels, double vision becomes so intense that the person will no longer be able to accurately perceive small and large-scale visual details of their environment. This will necessitate that the person closes one of their eyes at all time in order to function as they would sober.
Double vision is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as acuity suppression and pattern recognition suppression. This effect is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of depressant and dissociative compounds, such as alcohol, quetiapine, ketamine, and DXM.
Double vision by
Chelsea Morgan -
This replication serves as an accurate representation of moderate intensity double vision.
Environmental cubism is a visual segmentation of the external environment into squares and cubes of varying amounts and sizes. Once established, these segments can begin to slowly drift away from their original location and often change in size, leading to gaps in-between them. The space within these gaps can either be completely dark or composed of tightly bound visual geometry. It is worth noting that this effect is remarkably similar in its appearance to cubist photography and artwork.
This dark space can eventually grow, progressively decreasing the size of the cubes until a person finds themselves surrounded by a dissociative hole. It is not uncommon to be able to innately feel and detect the details and layout of both the different sections of the distortion and the gaps between them.
Environmental cubism is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as scenery slicing and visual disconnection. It is most commonly induced under the influence of heavy dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
Environmental Cubism in the park by
StasConstantine -
This image serves as an accurate portrayal of the commonly experienced dissociative effect known as environmental cubism as seen in a park.
Gustatory suppression is the experience of tastes becoming significantly vaguer, weaker, and less noticeable than that of everyday sobriety. At higher levels, this can result in food becoming completely tasteless and significantly less appealing.
Gustatory suppression is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as tactile suppression and pain relief. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
by
- An internal hallucination is the perception of a visual hallucination that exclusively occurs within an imagined environment which can typically only be viewed with closed eyes, similar to those found within dreams. This is in stark contrast to external hallucinations, which display themselves seamlessly into the external environment as if they were actually happening.
At lower levels, internal hallucinations begin with imagery on the back of a person's eyelids which do not take up the entirety of one's visual field and are distinct from their background. These can be described as spontaneous moving or still images of scenes, concepts, places, and anything one could imagine. The imagery is manifested in varying levels of realism, ranging from ill-defined and cartoon-like in nature to wholly realistic. They rarely hold their form for more than a few seconds before fading or shifting into another image. It is worth noting that this level of intensity occurs in a highly similar manner to that of hypnagogia, the state between sleep and wakefulness.
At higher levels, internal hallucinations become increasingly elaborate as they eventually become all-encompassing, fully-fledged 3D scenes which surround the person in a similar manner to that of dreams. This can create the feeling that one has "broken-through" into another reality. The things which occur within this perceived alternate reality can be anything but fall under common archetypes, such as contact with autonomous entities alongside a wide variety of imagined landscapes, memory replays, and scenarios.
Internal hallucinations are often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as geometry, external hallucinations and delusions. They are most commonly induced under the influence of heavy dosages of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants.
Size distortions by
Anonymous -
This video serves as an accurate portrayal of the commonly experienced effect known as perspective distortions.
A perspective distortion is a subtle to extreme change in how a person perceives the size and distance attributed their body, to specific parts of the external environment, or to the external environment as a whole.
When affecting distance, perspective distortions can make things seem as if they are physically closer or further away than they usually would be. This can range from a subtle experience, such as the other side of the room feeling marginally further away than it usually would be, to an extreme experience, such as feeling as if the horizon is right in front of you.
When affecting size, perspective distortions can make things seem as if they are physically smaller or larger in terms of the sense of size that one would usually attribute to them. This can range from a subtle experience, such as the room feeling marginally smaller and more cramped than it usually would be, to an extreme experience, such as feeling as if the room is hundreds of miles wide.
Feelings of suddenly having an impossibly giant or tiny body are also a very common manifestation of this effect. This feeling is already known by the scientific literature as “Alice in Wonderland Syndrome”. The effect can either be attributed to the body as a whole or specific parts of it. For example, feelings of having a huge head or tiny limbs are possible.
Perspective distortions are often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as depth perception distortions and visual disconnection. They are most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, MXE, and DXM.
Lewis Carol by
Alice -
Alice by Lewis Caroll - This illustration depicts a scene from Alice in Wonderland in which she has grown in size. It is an accurate representation of how it often feels to experience this effect.
Out of body experience by
Unknown - A perspective hallucination is an alteration of the perspective through which a given internal or external hallucination is seen through.
Although there are multiple forms of perspective hallucination, within the context of dissociative drugs, 3rd person perspective hallucinations are by far the most common. This perspective can be described as an out-of-body experience where a person's viewpoint is floating above, below, behind, or in front of their physical body.
Perspective hallucinations are often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as delirium, and memory suppression. They are most commonly induced under the influence of heavy dosages of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants.
Scenery slicing is the experience of a person's visual field appearing to split into separate cleanly cut sections, these individual slices then proceed to drift slowly away from their original position before disappearing and resetting to normalcy. This effect typically occurs spontaneously and rarely sustains itself for more than several seconds.
The organisation of these slices can be quite varied; they can be as simple as three separate sections or extremely complex, with formations such as multiple intricate slices of moving interlocking spirals or an infinite variety of other potential geometric designs.
Scenery slicing is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as environmental cubism and visual disconnection. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM. However, it can also occur to a lesser extent under the influence of psychedelics
[1]
such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline.
Dissociative scenery slicing by
Chelsea Morgan -
This replication serves as an accurate portrayal of scenery slicing as seen in a darkened room under the influence of dissociatives.
Tactile suppression is a decrease in one's ability to feel their sense of touch in a manner which can result in a general numbness across the body. At higher levels, this can eventually increase to the point where physical sensations have been completely blocked and the body is fully anaesthetized.
Tactile suppression is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as pain relief and physical euphoria. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM. However, it can also occur under the influence of opioids and certain GABAergic depressants.
Cognitive Effects
Cognitive effects are any subjective experience which directly alter or introduce new content to an element of a person's cognition.
Cognitive disconnection is the experience of feeling distant and detached from one's sense of identity, thought stream, and general cognitive processes. This leads into states such as depersonalisation, derealisation, memory suppression, "ego death" and a general array of cognitive suppressions. The experience of this can also create a wide range of subjective changes to a person's perception of their own consciousness. These are described and documented in the list below:
Feeling as though one’s conscious thought stream and memories are not one’s own
Feeling as if one’s conscious thought processes are distant and vague
Feeling as if one’s conscious thought processes have become autonomous and mechanical in their structure or behaviour
Feeling a decrease in the overall speed, connectivity, and analytical abilities of one’s cognitive abilities
Cognitive disconnection is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as visual disconnection and physical disconnection. This results in the sensation that one is partially or completely detaching from both their sensory input and their conscious faculties. It is a near-universal effect under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
Depersonalization or depersonalisation (sometimes abbreviated as DP) is medically recognized as the experience of feeling detached from, and as if one is an outside observer of, one's mental processes, body, or actions.
[1]
[2]
[3]
During this state, the affected person may feel like they are "on autopilot" and that the world is lacking in significance.
[3]
[4]
Individuals who experience depersonalization feel detached from aspects of the self, including feelings (e.g., "I know I have feelings but I don't feel them"),
[5]
thoughts (e.g., "My thoughts don't feel like my own")
[6]
, and sensations (e.g., touch, hunger, thirst, libido).
[2]
[7]
[8]
This can be distressing to the user, who may become disoriented by the loss of a sense that their self is the origin of their thoughts and actions.
It is perfectly normal for people to slip into this state temporarily,
[9]
often without even realizing it. For example, many people often note that they enter a detached state of autopilot during stressful situations or when performing monotonous routine tasks such as driving.
It is worth noting that this state of mind is also commonly associated with and occurs alongside derealization. While depersonalization is a subjective experience of unreality in one's sense of self, derealization is a perception of the unreality of the outside world.
[2]
[4]
[7]
[8]
Depersonalization is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as anxiety,
[2]
[5]
depression,
[5]
time distortion,
[6]
and derealization.
[7]
[10]
It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine,
[9]
PCP,
[11]
[12]
and DXM. However, it can also occur under the influence of cannabis,
[9]
[10]
[13]
psychedelics,[9] and to a lesser extent during the withdrawal symptoms of depressants
[14]
[15]
and SSRI's
[9]
.
Derealization or derealisation (sometimes abbreviated as DR) is the experience of feeling detached from, and as if one is an outside observer of, one's surroundings (e.g., individuals or objects are experienced as unreal, dreamlike, foggy, lifeless, or visually distorted). It's a type of cognitive and perceptual dysregulation. People experiencing derealization often claim that reality persistently feels as if it is a dream, or something watched through a screen, like a film or video game. These feelings can sometimes instill the person with a sensation of alienation and distance from those around them.
Derealization is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as anxiety and depersonalization. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
Existential self-realization can be described as a sudden realization, revelation, or reaffirmation of a person's existence within this universe. This typically feels like a sudden and profound "waking up" or "rebirth" that results in an intense sense of motivation, an added sense of purpose to one’s life, a sudden comprehension of their own situation, an appreciation for life, and a sense of urgency to make the most out of it while it lasts. During this state, no new knowledge is learned but the previously known information regarding their existence is reintegrated in a sudden and profound manner that results in a deep sense of appreciation for the unlikely circumstances of their own existence. The residual impacts of this effect often carry over into sobriety, potentially resulting in lasting positive benefits for the person.
Existential self-realization is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of psychedelic and dissociatives compounds such as ketamine, LSD, 4-AcO-DMT, and DCK. However, it can also occur to a lesser extent after near-death experiences and under the influence of entacogens such as MDMA.
Immersion enhancement is an effect which results in a pronounced increase in one's tendency to become fully captivated and engrossed by external stimuli such as film, TV shows, video games, and various other forms of media. This greatly increases one's suspension of disbelief, increases one’s empathy with the characters, suppresses one's memory of the "outside world", and allows one to become engaged on a level that is largely unattainable during everyday sober living.
At its highest point of intensity, immersion enhancement can reach a level in which the person begins to truly believe that the media they are consuming is a real-life event that is actually happening in front of them or is being relayed through a screen. This is likely a result of the effect synergizing with other accompanying components such as internal or external hallucinations, delusions, memory suppression, and suggestibility enhancement. Immersion enhancement often exaggerates the emotional response a person has towards media they are engaged with. Whether or not this experience is enjoyable can differ drastically depending on various factors such as the emotional tone and familiarity of what is being perceived.
Immersion enhancement is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM. However, it can also occur to a lesser extent under the influence of psychedelics and cannabinoids.
Introspection can be described as the experience of a state of mind in which a person feels as if they are being encouraged or forced to reflect upon and examine aspects of their life, thoughts, and feelings.
This state is often felt to be extremely effective at facilitating therapeutic self-improvement and positive personal growth on a level that remains largely unparalleled by that of everyday sober living. This is due to the way in which it often results in logical resolutions to the present situation, future possibilities, insecurities, and goals or personal acceptance of insecurities, fears, hopes, struggles, and traumas.
Introspection is unlikely to be an isolated effect component but rather the result of a combination of an appropriate setting in conjunction with other coinciding effects such as analysis enhancement, empathy, affection, and sociability enhancement, and personal bias suppression. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psychedelics and dissociatives. However, it can also occur in a less consistent form under the influence of entactogens and meditation.
Memory suppression is an inhibition of a person's ability to maintain a functional short and long-term memory. This occurs in a manner that is directly proportional to the dosage consumed and often begins with the degradation of one's short-term memory.
At lower levels, this effect is a partial and potentially inconsistent failure of a person’s short-term memory. It can cause effects such as a general difficulty staying focused, an increase in distractibility, and a general tendency to forget what one is thinking or saying.
At the higher levels, this effect is a complete and persistent failure of both a person’s long and short-term memory. It can be described as the experience of becoming completely incapable of remembering even the most basic fundamental concepts stored within the person’s long-term memory. This includes everything from their name, hometown, past memories, the awareness of being on drugs, what drugs even are, what human beings are, what life is, that time exists, what anything is, or that anything exists. Memory suppression of this level blocks all mental associations, attached meaning, acquired preferences, and value judgements one may have towards the external world.
Ego death
The most significant aspect of complete long-term memory suppression (level 4) is the way in which it suppresses the ability to recall and comprehend conceptual information associated with one's sense of self-hood and identity. The experience of this is colloquially known as ego death and its occurrence is well documented throughout the modern psychonaut subculture.
Complete memory suppression can result in the profound experience that despite remaining fully conscious, there is no longer an “I” experiencing one's sensory input; there is just the sensory input as it is and by itself. This suppresses the otherwise nearly constant sensation in waking life of being a separate observer interacting with an external world. Although ego death does not necessarily shut down awareness of all mental processes, it does remove the feeling of being the thinker or cause of one's mental processes. It often results in the feeling of processing concepts from a neutral perspective completely untainted by past memories, prior experiences, contexts, and biases.
Ego death often synergizes with other coinciding effects such as personal bias suppression, unity and interconnectedness, spirituality enhancement, and delusions. These accompanying effects further elevate the subjective intensity and transpersonal significance of ego death experiences.
Physical Effects
Physical effects are any subjective experience which directly affects an aspect of a person's physical body.
Changes in felt gravity can be described as feeling that the pull of gravity has shifted in its direction. For example, during this state one may feel as if they are floating forwards, backwards, upwards, downwards, or in an unspecifiable direction.
Changes in felt gravity are often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as geometry, internal hallucinations, and holes, spaces and voids. They are most commonly induced under the influence of heavy dosages of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psychedelics, dissociatives, cannabinoids, and salvinorin A.
Pain relief can be described as an effect which suppresses negative sensations such as aches and pains. This can occur through a variety of different pharmacological and subjective mechanisms such as blocking the physical sensations from reaching one's conscious faculties, by covering the sensation with feelings of physical and cognitive euphoria, or by directly targetting the body part which the sensation is arising from.
Pain relief is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as muscle relaxation, physical euphoria, and sedation. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of a very wide variety of compounds, such as opioids, GABAergics, GABApentinoids, cannabinoids, dissociatives, muscle relaxants, and NSAID's.
Perception of bodily lightness can be described as feeling as if one's body has significantly decreased in its weight. This can result in feelings of increased energy and a general sense of bounciness due to the body seeming weightless and therefore effortless to move.
Perception of bodily lightness is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as stimulation and physical disconnection. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM. However, it can also occur under the influence of certain stimulating psychedelics such as certain LSD, 4-HO-MET, and 2C-B.
Physical autonomy can be described as the experience of a person's own body performing simple or complex actions entirely of its own accord. Depending on the intensity, this results in the carrying out of a given task becoming partially to completely automatic in nature without the requirement of decision-making skills or attentive conscious input.
At lower levels, the effect is partially controllable by commanding the body with simple thoughts. For example, thoughts such as "go to the toilet" or "go drink a glass of water" can result in the body performing these actions autonomously. This can often help the person perform necessary physical actions such as tending to bodily functions or avoiding danger when they would otherwise be too incapable, unconscious, or distractible to perform them manually in their current state.
At higher levels, this effect no longer requires verbal commands and becomes entirely automatic. It's worth noting that although this technically results in a loss of cognitive control, the body only performs actions which the owner would have decided to perform were they capable of it themselves.
Physical autonomy is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as physical disconnection and cognitive disconnection. It is most commonly induced under the influence of heavy dosages of dissociative compounds, such as ketamine, PCP, and DXM. However, it can also occur to a lesser extent under the influence of heavy dosages of psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline.
Physical disconnection is the experience of feeling distant and detached from one's sense of touch and their feelings of ownership and control over their own physical body. This leads into states such as tactile suppression, physical autonomy, pain relief, changes in felt bodily form, a perception of bodily lightness, and a general array of physical suppressions. The experience of this effect can also create a wide range of subjective changes to a person's perception of their own body. These are described and documented in the list below:
Feeling as if one’s body is not their own
Feeling as if one’s body is controlling itself
Feeling as if one’s body is distant and far away
Feeling as if one’s bodily movement is mechanical and robotic
Feeling a decrease in one’s ability to use fine motor control
Feeling a decrease in one’s ability to use and perceive their sense of touch
Physical disconnection is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as cognitive disconnection and visual disconnection in a manner which results in the sensation that one is partially or completely detaching from both their sensory input and their cognitive faculties. This effect is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of depressant and dissociative compounds, such as, ketamine, PCP, and DXM.
Spatial disorientation is the failure to perceive or perceiving incorrectly the position, motion, or altitude of oneself
[1]
within the fixed coordinate system provided by the surface of the Earth and the gravitational vertical.
[2]
In this state, a person may have trouble distinguishing up from down, right from left, or any two different directions from another. The person might also perceive the world or their own body as being flipped sideways or upside down.
Spatial disorientation is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as holes, spaces and voids, changes in felt gravity
[3]
, and dizziness.
[4]
It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate dosages of dissociative compounds, such as diphenidine,
[4]
ketamine,
[5]
and DXM.
