Author: James Anderson

Dissociative Disorders and Drug Abuse

Due to its short duration, users may abuse it repetitively and frequently to experience the pleasurable sensations it causes. While not a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act, its potential for abuse, especially among teenagers, has led some states to regulate its sale. Cough medicines with DXM also contain several other active ingredients that can interact with other drugs, which may have very dangerous effects. This drug has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as an anesthetic and, more recently, in a nasal spray form (esketamine) for treatment-resistant depression. Derealization involves feeling that other people and things are separate from you and seem foggy or dreamlike.

However, it was quickly replaced with ketamine because roughly one in five patients would exhibit severe responses to the drug — often lasting 12 hours or more. A lot of drugs have dissociative effects — but seven have achieved widespread popularity. Most people aren’t in for this level of experience, which can also occur at high doses of magic mushrooms, LSD, and DMT — but some people thoroughly enjoy these deep, often confrontational experiences. Complete dissociation is a lonely place to be, but more often than not, users feel blissful and whole rather than scared and alone.

1. Dissociative amnesia can be specific to events in a certain time, such as intense combat.
2. There are a lot of newer dissociative drugs that have hit the market since the early 2000s 3.
3. It is worthy of mentioning that dissociatives also affect an important neurotransmitter – glutamate – which is critical for cognitive function, perception of pain, and emotions.
4. While no long-term side effects have been noted, this is more likely due to the absence of habitual users than from a total lack of negative side effects.
5. Other shocking, distressing or painful events also may cause dissociative disorders to arise.
6. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, authorities first started reporting an influx of cases of bunk LSD, mescaline, cocaine, psilocybin, MDMA, and marijuana being laced with or replaced with PCP.

Symptoms of Dissociative Drug Addiction

When you go through an event that’s too much to handle emotionally, you may feel like you’re stepping outside of yourself and seeing the event as if it’s happening to another person. Mentally escaping in this way may help you get through a shocking, distressing or painful time. Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, this disorder involves “switching” to other identities. You may feel as if you have two or more people talking or living inside your head. Addiction Resource does not offer medical diagnosis, treatment, or advice. Only trained and licensed medical professionals can provide such services.

What Are the Most Common Dissociative Drugs?

Symptoms depend in part on the type of dissociative disorder and can range from memory loss to disconnected identities. Times of stress can worsen symptoms for a while, making them easier to see. Addiction Resource is an educational platform for sharing and disseminating information about addiction and substance abuse recovery centers.

Challenging Experiences for Participants

Because such drugs also impact glutamate, some people may experience pain relief, while others have hallucinations and experience trance states to a certain extent. If nerve cells do not release enough of glutamate or, on the contrary, release more glutamate than needed, the effect of a particular drug would differ as well. Physical dependence occurs when a person’s body adapts to the dissociatives and gets used to functioning with the drugs in their system. Drugs that affect a person’s mental state (psychoactive drugs) can also have different effects depending on a person’s mood (often called the ‘set’) or the environment they are in (the ‘setting’). Many dissociatives have general depressant effects including drowsiness, slow ineffective breathing, pain relief, anesthesia, and loss of muscle control, as well as cognitive and memory impairment. There are a lot of newer dissociative drugs that have hit the market since the early 2000s 3.

Dissociatives (also referred to as ‘dissociative anaesthetics’) are a class of psychedelic drug. This class of drug causes people to feel separated or detached from their body or physical environment. However, only esketamine is FDA approved for therapeutic use to date. The hallucinogenic effects become much more pronounced, and the dissociation becomes severe. Many people experience lapses in memory and feel as though some of their voluntary control is lost. Most people report feeling as if they’re on autopilot or are watching themselves from somewhere else — but remain largely in control of their actions.

Do psychedelic and dissociative drugs have side effects?

It was first developed as a new anesthetic and anticonvulsant agent but was never adopted into clinical use after researchers discovered the drug had an affinity for causing Olney’s lesions in rats. This substance is called laughing gas because users have a tendency to burst out in hysterical laughter. This emerges spontaneously as a result of the intense confusion and euphoria. People lose touch with who they are and where they are — but don’t care because of how dissociated from the self they’ve become. Nitrous oxide has been used for anesthesia and recreational use for hundreds of years. Upper-class “laughing gas” parties were reported in Great Britain as early as 1799.

As a comparison, dissociatives produce some magnified states of consciousness which are, nevertheless, familiar to a person. Psychedelics modify cognition working against the serotonin receptors. Considering the possible dissociative effects, some people may use them to experience a state of euphoria.

Ketamine

Bladder disease is unusually common among habitual ketamine or PCP users (often referred to as “K-pains”). High doses of an NMDA antagonist can cause the user to lose consciousness, which is what makes these drugs so useful for anesthesia. At the bottom of the dissociative state is a feeling of complete isolation and loneliness, but this state isn’t as uncomfortable as it sounds. Because of the lack of identity and absence of attachment, users feel as though they’re in a state of perfect zen. Some dissociative reliably induce states that feel enlightening and enjoyable; others produce powerful hallucinogenic experiences that are almost always terrifying and traumatizing. Prolonged use of DXM can lead to abuse and addiction and result in withdrawal symptoms if the user cannot continue using the drug.

In such a way, despite some similarities between the effects of dissociatives and psychedelics, there are some profound differences as well. Besides, it is crucial that psychedelics produce many effects even when the dosages are not large, unlike with dissociative hallucinogens. The best thing to have a positive experience with the drugs under consideration is to learn more about how dissociatives work.

For that reason, knowing the symptoms, one can start rehabilitation before the problem becomes too serious. Dissociatives, which are also known as dissociative anesthetics, belong to the psychedelic drug group. An individual affected by the drugs of this class experiences disconnection with the surrounding environment, the feeling of separation from the self, and also altered sensory perception. In higher doses, the dissociative effects become much more hallucinogenic and can lead to K-hole states. However, unlike other MXE doesn’t do as good of a job at removing feelings of fear or grief — so it’s much more likely to experience a bad trip on this drug after taking too much. See NIDA-funded projects related to psychedelic and dissociative drugs, and learn more about related clinical trials.