Dissociatives can be very dangerous drugs, much moreso than psychedelics. The effects they can have on behavior are extremely profound, especially for some people. And generally the people who love them the most seem to be the most prone to getting into really bad situations with them, too. I like them but don't love them... I have never gotten into any bad situations on them (I have gotten way too high and been unable to care for myself but fortunately I had friends with me). I think some people are better off without them, unfortunately. It's good to recognize that anyway.
PCP and PCP based chemicals do seem to be the worst offenders.
Totally agree with the sentiment about dissociatives being dangerous and that some people are better off without them - that latter fact might well apply to me - but speaking as someone who loves dissociatives a lot but has avoided getting into any truly bad situations with them, and the vast majority of the time have done them alone, including an accidentally large dose of a PCP analogue on a few occasions, I'm gonna share some hints for those who do get themselves into trouble (this is kinda tongue in cheek, I realise I've just been lucky, substances that are profoundly altering, induce delusions of sobriety, and honestly are sometimes just fucking terrifying are obviously gonna be disastrous at least some fraction of the time for many people - so I intend this as a joke).
Firstly... if you start thinking that you've been plucked into a different reality by some beings of unknown intention and purpose - you start thinking you have superpowers - you start believing yourself to have been taken over by some kind of weird demonic entity that now just has your normal cognitive processes encased in a little box inside your mind while it operates your body (talking about that lil 3-MeO-PCP demon if anyone can relate) - basically... if you are just not sure what's going on - or even if you are
absolutely sure what's going on and it's such a revelation that it's going to change the world - any of these scenarios or anything similar... don't do anything about it right away.
Just. Sit. Quietly. (Or stand, whatever, whatever you happen to be doing). If you don't know where you are, for god's sake don't just start roaming around blindly.
You're not gonna find your way out of another dimension on your own, wait for whoever or whatever brought you there to reveal themselves, You're not gonna gain anything from engaging in a frantic internal battle to regain control of your consciousness from an interdimensional invader, chances are it knows more about this world and about your mind than you do - be wary, just watch it - it might be just as baffled as you are. If you're the messiah, or the almighty god of all creation him/her/itself, there's no rush. In fact, you probably have all the time in the world, you've got some planning to do! If you're still incarnate in a human body, realise that body has limitations that you need to understand before you go reveal yourself to the world. Sleep on it, or just bask in the feeling - you have time. Whatever you do - DO NOT start trying to escape, fight, or save humanity right away. Be patient. If you're not alone, and can understand language, just be still. You owe it to the mortals to break the news to them as gently as you can. Let them sleep on it. Let that demon poke around in your head for a bit, most of the time it'll figure out how to get out on it's own.
I am not even sure I enjoy the state they provide. Everytime I take them I am left wondering if I am actually enjoying the experience. However the afterglow is where the magic is for myself, I am left in a positive, motivated state for a long period after a dose. Such strange creatures those disso's!
Totally identify with this, although for me the afterglow is a bit unreliable. It might be because my preference is for the sedating, smash reality sideways types, ~PCMs, ketamine obviously, higher dose MXE and analogues which typically include a few redoses which are probably frazzling my brain cumulatively with each dose which might have something to do with it. The stimulating weirder ones like the ~PCPs and ~PCEs I redose a lot less often because there'll be a point where the weirdness is most definitely no longer fun - but these tend to have more lucid, happy afterglows.
As far as "wondering if I'm actually enjoying the experience", yeah, I feel you there for sure, especially with ketamine which remains an occasional if progressively more controlled vice in my life that I wonder why I'm doing it half the time I do do it. I rarely actually hole anymore, partly due to tolerance and partly because my girlfriend (who I don't use around at all, we have an agreement about it of a sort I don't want to just push it in her face) is not the biggest fan of speaking to me when I've overshot the dose to the point where communication becomes a bit difficult. And, honestly, overshooting the dose on any disso can be scarier to a drug naive observer than it is to the actual drug user, who may well be having a great time, so I do get that. But yeah, I used to just zone out and watch TV shows but the character of the experience has changed somewhat, I know I'm not getting any secrets of the universe out of it after all, I know I'm probably gonna redose a few more times than planned and feel fucked up and scattered for a few days after, the experience itself is nice but... is it even that nice anymore? But still every few months or so I just get this inexplicable impulse like yeah... you know what I haven't done in a while, that drug I really love, and always have a great, relaxing time on, like nothing else... Imma get myself some ketamine (or maybe something more exotic even more rarely just to mix it up a bit).
Dissos are strange ones indeed.
