Disconnective effects

The most prominent category of effects within the dissociative experience is the way in which it produces feelings of disconnection, detachment and dissociation from the environment and the senses. This is a product of the way in which NMDA antagonists directly reduce or block signals to the conscious mind from other parts of the brain and it can be broken down into 3 separate subcomponents.

Disconnection from tactile input

Disconnection from tactile input can be defined at lower to moderate doses as a disconnection from the physical senses which is only partial in its effects. This creates a number of changes in a person's perception of the physical body which generally include:

• Feeling as if your body is not your own
• Feeling as if your body is performing its physical actions autonomously and on its own accord
• A partial loss of tactile input or general bodily numbness and anaesthesia
• A partial loss of fine and gross motor control

At higher dosages, this disconnection of the physical senses makes the transition from partial to entirely all-encompassing. This results in a complete disconnection from one's own body and full-blown anaesthesia which is accompanied by a total loss of motor control. Once this happens the tripper will find themselves in a catatonic state with an inability to perform even the simplest of physical tasks.

Disconnection from visual input

Disconnection from visual input can be defined at lower to moderate dosages as only partial in its effects. This creates a number of changes in a person's perception of sight which generally includes:

• Feeling as if you are watching the world through a screen
• Blurred vision and general difficulty in perceiving fine details
• Feeling as though the visually perceivable world is further away in distance
• Feeling as though you are looking through somebody else's eyes
• Double vision which forces the user to close one eye if they need to read or perceive fine visual details such as reading

At higher dosages, the disconnection from visual input makes the transition from partial to entirely all-encompassing in its effects. This results in a complete perceptual disconnection from the sense of sight. It can be experientially described as being completely blinded and unable to tell whether the eyes are open or closed due to the total lack of sensory input.

• Visual disconnection - gallery
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  General detachment.
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  Perceiving the world through a screen.
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  Double vision.

Holes, spaces and voids

This particular component is experienced once disconnection from visual input becomes all-encompassing, leaving the tripper incapable of receiving external sensory input and consistently replacing their visual awareness with a consistent and defined space which feels as if it is outside of normal reality. The visual appearance of this space can be described as a vast, empty and darkened void which feels and appears to be truly infinite in size. This space is usually obsidian black in its colour but occasionally displays itself with large patches of slow moving amorphous colour clouds strewn out across its horizon. Alongside of this visual experience, there is the physical sensation of an out of body experience in which one weightlessly floats over great distances in a variety of different speeds, directions and orientations.

Structures

Dissociative-induced hallucinatory structures are the only feature found within what would otherwise be completely empty and featureless spaces and holes. They can generally be described as 3-dimensional and monolithic shapes or structures of infinite variety and size that float above, below or in front of you as they gradually zoom, rotate or pan into focus and become unveiled before your eyes at a slow pace. These structures can take any static comprehensible shape possible but can commonly be experienced as vast and giant pillars, columns, blocks, tear drops, wheels and pyramids. They are often fractal in nature and capable of being manifested in any variety of colours but usually follow darker themes and tones with a style that is often described and interpreted as "alien" in nature. In terms of the materials that they appear to be comprised of and the complexity of detail in which they are perceived in, dissociative structures can be broken into 4 basic levels.

1. 2-Dimensional Structures - The most basic level of structural complexity confines its geometry to strictly 2-dimensional shapes. These shapes are usually very flat and dark in their colour and often “felt” instead of seen. In terms of their size, these structures take up the entirety of a person's visual field but do not appear to have any particular size attributed to them.
2. Partially defined 3-Dimensional Structures - At this level the structure becomes better defined and 3-dimensional in shape with basic detail in their lighting and shadow. They appear to be made of semi-transparent condensed colour or solidified shimmering geometry that are seen as ill defined, soft and out of focus around their edges. In terms of size, these structures appear to be extremely large, stretching out across hundreds and hundreds of metres.
3. Fully defined 3-Dimensional Structures - Once hallucinatory structures reach their third level of complexity, they become fully defined in their shape, edges, lighting, shadow and detail. Often appearing to be made of solid and dense realistic materials such as stone and metal, they are capable of being thousands of miles across themselves and extremely complex in form.
4. Structural universes - As dosage increases, the detail continues to complexify proportionally until the highest level of structure is reached. This can be described as the sensation of seeing the entire universe condensed into an infinitely vast and intricate self-transforming machine structure. In terms of its appearance, this state is extremely hard to describe. The structure can take any form but usually appears to be consistently shaped machine-like structures or clouds that convey huge amounts of information, are infinite in size and felt at every point of detail across themselves. This is immediately interpreted through some sort of innate instinct as “the universe” or at least, “everything” by everybody who undergoes the experience. This is also accompanied by the sudden realization that you are the structure that you are staring down upon and that the structure is also you.

Structures typically last anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes before the person slips back into reality or into the presence of another structure. There are three different methods through which these hallucinatory structures are shifted between.

• Structural Transformations - Structures can switch between each other by morphing around you in a static, comprehensible way. This is something that usually unfolds in front of you in a rather slow, step by step morphing process.
• Structural Panning - Structures can switch between each other by remaining completely static in their shape but simply panning out of view until they are no longer within your field of vision. It’s from here that another structure usually comes into view from outside of your peripheral vision within a few seconds to a couple of minutes.
• Travelling over great distances - The third method of transitioning is experienced when the structures appear to be stationary whilst you are floating silently between them over what feels like vast physical distance. This is often done on an invisible rail through the vast and infinite dissociative hole, and is a feeling that is interpreted by many people as flying through space or the night sky.

Disconnection from consciousness

Disconnection from consciousness can be defined at lower to moderate doses as only partial in its effects. This creates a number of changes in a person's internal thought processes and perception of their own consciousness which generally includes:

• Feeling as though reality has become distant and vague
• Feeling as though reality is a film or a dream which plays out in front of you
• Feeling as though the world beyond your immediate external environment is simply non-existent
• A dosage proportional decrease in the overall speed, connectivity and analytical abilities of the conscious thought stream
• Feeling as though your conscious thought stream is not your own, allowing it to be analysed from an unbiased third person perspective

At higher dosages, the disconnection from consciousness eventually makes the transition from partial to all-encompassing. This results in the complete failure of a person's conscious thought stream, sense of self and long term memory. It can be experientially described as a state that is functionally identical to psychedelic-induced ego death and the feeling that there is no longer an "I" experiencing the trip; there is just the experience, as it is and by itself.

Detachment plateaus

The process of sensory and cognitive detachment can be broken down into 5 distinct levels of increasing intensity:

1. Partial detachment - This can be described as feelings of surreality and general detachment from the external environment. It is often accompanied by a sense of mild to moderate energetic stimulation.
2. Partial detachment from environment - As the detachment increases, the environment starts to become physically further away in distance and increasingly disconnected from a person's sensory perception. Blurred vision sets in while anaesthetic-like effects and tactile numbness begin to take place. At this point, motor control, coordination and balance become suppressed in a way that is proportional to dosage. In terms of sound, hearing also seems to become muffled and distant.
3. Total detachment from environment - This is complete disconnection from the body. It is here where the tripper finds themselves undergoing an out of body experience as they enter the dissociative hole.
4. Detachment from self - The fourth level of dissociation and detachment occurs during the point at which the brain's neurons have become so disconnected that a person's sense of "I", mind and self ceases to exist, resulting in ego death.
5. Detachment from awareness - The highest level of detachment occurs when the neurons within a person's brain have become so disconnected from each other that the tripper literally passes out into total unconsciousness. This consistently leaves extended gaps in a person's memory and large periods of amnesia which are generally impossible to recall once the experience is over.

See also

• Dissociatives - Subjective effects
• Psychedelics - Subjective effects
• Deliriants - Subjective effects