Subjective Effects of Dissociatives
Dissociatives are a class of hallucinogen which distort perceptions of sight and sound to produce feelings of disconnection, detachment, and dissociation from the environment and self. These effects occur due to the way in which these compounds function as NMDA receptor antagonists. This means they bind to receptors in the brain but do not activate them, thus blocking 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.
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:
Ketamine, MXE, PCP, DXM, DCK, 3-MeO-PCP, O-PCE, 3-HO-PCE, 3-HO-PCP, 3-MeO-PCE, 4-MeO-PCP, PCE, Diphenidine, Ephenidine, Methoxphenidine
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
- 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
Cognitive disconnection
- 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
Visual disconnection
- Feeling as if one is watching the world through a screen
- Blurred vision and difficulty 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 that, at higher levels, forces the user to close one eye if they need to read or perceive fine visual details
Holes, spaces, and voids
Holes, spaces and voids are a sub-component of visual disconnection that manifest when it has become all-encompassing in its intensity. This experience is more commonly known as a "K-hole" and is generally discussed as something that is specifically associated with ketamine, despite being present within most traditional dissociatives. A K-hole 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, replacing their visual input with a space that subjectively feels as if it is outside of normal reality.
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 that 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.Miscellaneous Sensory Effects
In this context, miscellaneous sensory effects are any subjective experience which alters a person's visual, tactile, or gustatory senses.
Auditory suppression
Double vision

Environmental cubism
Gustatory suppression
Internal hallucination
Perspective distortion

Perspective hallucination

Scenery slicing

Tactile suppression
Visual acuity suppression

Cognitive Effects
Cognitive effects are any subjective experience which directly alter or introduce new content to an element of a person's cognition.
Depersonalization

Derealization
Ego death
Type 1
Absent selfhood
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An absent selfhood can be described as a sudden and complete lack of the subjective experience of one’s own sense of identity. During this form of ego death, there is a profound experience of remaining fully conscious, while there is no longer an “I” experiencing one’s sensory input; there is just the sensory input as it is and by itself, without a conscious agent to comment on or think about what is happening to it.
Type 2
Objectified selfhood
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An objective selfhood can be described as the experience of the person remaining aware of the existence of oneself, while no longer perceiving themselves as integrally attached to their sense of identity. Instead of feeling that they and their sense of selfhood are a unified whole which is the subject of experience, their awareness instead feels entirely separate from it’s own sense of self, as if this selfhood is now the object of experience instead of the subject.
Type 3
Expanded selfhood
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An expanded selfhood can be described as the experience of one’s sense of identity becoming constituted by a wider array of concepts than it previously did. For example, while a person may usually feel that they are exclusively their “ego” and physical body, this effect can cause their sense of identity to also include the external environment or an object they are interacting with. This results in intense and inextricable feelings of unity or interconnectedness between oneself and varying arrays of previously “external” systems. For more information on this experience, please see our comprehensive article on states of Unity and Interconnectedness.
Existential self-realization
Immersion enhancement
Introspection
Memory suppression
Physical Effects
Physical effects are any subjective experience which directly affects an aspect of a person's physical body.
Changes in felt gravity
Pain relief
Perception of bodily lightness
Physical autonomy
Physical disconnection
- 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