What is dissociation?

[Dalfir]

I'm not sure where else to post this. I understand that hallucinogens are three broad categories. Psychedelics, which allow information and signals that would previously be filtered by the brain to reach the concious mind, dissociatives and deleriants.

What do dissociatives do? Are they the opposite of psychedelics in that they don't amplify signals travelling to the concious mind, but rather block them out so that some senses just aren't present? Before I got an interest in hallucinogens, I got high off N20 which, for about 15 seconds, sent me into a total trance where no influence of the outisde world had any effect on me. Do dissociatives just allow the concious and subconcious to function, while all outside sensations are blocked out?

I've heard that deliriants can cause true hallucinations, but compared to dissociative and psychedelics, what do these do?

[namooP]

With deleriants the difference is that you cannot decipher hallucination from reality. You probably won\'t even know you are tripping, which can be pretty dangerous in any number of ways. Read through some Datura experiences to get an idea of that. I will let someone else deal with dissociative, I would just be waffling.

[wellhelm]

Mainly reduce or block the physical sense's. The whole seperation of mind and body thang.

[Bildo]

To be dissociatiive is to be apart from everything else, to be in a world of your own.

[Solidly-here]

Hallucinogin: See, hear, or feel something which is not there.

Dissociative: Not see, hear, or feel something which IS there.

Certainly they overlap. If you have a strong Day-dream on LSD, you will not see hear or feel other things which ARE there.

Perhaps a GREAT Trip would be one where you could dissociate from this World, and live in a vivid hallucination.

Dissociatives can also provide hallucinations of a sort.
Like Bildo said: "To be dissociative is to be apart from everything else, to be in a world of your own."
Part of your own world is seeing things that others cannot see, hearing what isn't there.

[xctico]

The problem with being in a whole different world... is if you get a cotton mouth, cause you think you're drinking water but you're not... so the cotton mouth doesn't go away... that can be a pain.