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Memory suppression

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Memory suppression (also known as ego suppression, ego loss or ego death) can be described as an effect which directly inhibits one'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.

It is a process which can be broken down into 4 basic levels:

  1. Partial short-term memory suppression - This 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.
  2. Complete short-term memory suppression - This is the complete failure of a person's short-term memory. It can be described as the experience of being completely incapable of remembering any specific details regarding the present situation and the events leading up to it for more than a few seconds. This state of mind can often result in thought loops, confusion, disorientation, and a loss of control, especially for the inexperienced. At this level, it can also become impossible to follow the plot of most forms of media as one cannot retain the memories long enough to do so.
  3. Partial long-term memory suppression - This is the partial, often intermittent failure of a person's long-term memory in addition to the complete failure of their short-term memory. It can be described as the experience of an increased difficulty recalling basic concepts and autobiographical information from one's long-term memory. Compounded with the complete suppression of short term memory, it creates an altered state where even basic tasks become challenging or impossible as one cannot mentally access past memories of how to complete them. For example, one may take a longer time to recall the identity of close friends or temporarily forget how to perform basic tasks. This state may create the sensation of experiencing something for the first time. At this stage, a reduction of certain learned personality traits, awareness of cultural norms, and linguistic recall may accompany the suppression of long-term memory.
  4. Complete long-term memory suppression - This is the 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 one's long-term memory. This includes everything from one's name, hometown, and past memories to 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. Sufficiently intense memory loss is also associated with the loss of a sense of self, in which one is no longer aware of their own existence. In this state, the user is unable to recall all learned conceptual knowledge about themselves and the external world, and no longer experiences the sensation of being a separate observer in an external world. This experience is commonly referred to as "ego death".

Memory suppression is an extremely common effect under the influence of strong to heavy dosages of many hallucinogenic substances. These compounds typically include almost any psychedelic, dissociative, and deliriant substance.

It is worth noting that although memory suppression is vaguely similar in its effects to amnesia, it differs in that it directly suppresses one's usage of their long or short term memory without inhibiting the person's ability to recall what happened during this experience afterward. In contrast, amnesia does not directly affect the usage of one's short or long-term memory during its experience but instead renders a person incapable of recalling events after it has worn off. A person experiencing memory suppression cannot access their existing memory, while a person with drug-induced amnesia cannot properly store new memories. As such, a person experiencing amnesia may not obviously appear to be doing so, as they can often carry on normal conversations and perform complex tasks. This is not the case with memory suppression.

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 key concepts 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 psychonautic subculture.

This 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. It often results in the feeling that one is processing concepts from a fresh perspective which is completely untainted by past memories, prior experiences, contexts, and biases.

Ego death will often synergize with other coinciding effects such as personal bias suppression, unity and interconnectedness, spirituality enhancement, and delusions in a manner which further increases its subjective intensity and transpersonal significance.

Psychoactive substances

Compounds within our psychoactive substance index which may cause this effect include:

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Experience reports

Anecdotal reports which describe this effect within our experience index include:

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See also

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