I have dissociative disorder. The fog's part of it. One way it's treated is similar to trauma therapy, exposure to the trigger( s ) for dissociation. This doesn't mean drink everything ever, it means learn to disarm the dissociative response through lots of practice.

Go to a doctor about it if you haven't already. It can be dangerous. You should be screened for neuropathology. If it's mental health it's not an immediate life risk like a mild stroke could be, but you still probably need to get it treated. So that, you know, you don't dissociate while crossing the street and wake up six days later in France.

Don't drink too much.

hey that'd be cool!

Dissasocivatie medications like Ketamine are now being used in psychotherapy. This experience can't be all bad. Or am I missing the point?

There's a difference between dissociation in a controlled context which a subject can wilfully elicit and an involuntary response or neurological issue. The former can be recreational or therapeutic, the latter usually will be unpleasant and is strongly associated with neurological or mental health issues.

Right. Thanks for the enlightenment, but how so for recreation?

You can have pretty profound experiences on dissociative drugs, they aren't necessarily negative. You can also have fun ones. There are reasons besides addiction that people want to take them.

Some powerful hallucinogenics aren't addictive either. Salvia and LSD spring to mind, and you can have dissociative experiences on them. Some people make occasional use of DMT or ketamine for similar reasons.

Carl Sagan used to take drugs, study and write. It ain't all bad all the time. :)

Distinguish this fun stuff from involuntary dissociation. Imagine someone has a dissociative trigger while J-walking and loses control of their body, collapsing into the path of an oncoming car. Doesn't matter how fun it was to dissociate, it can still be fucking dangerous.

Which is why if you've dissociated outside of a controlled environment, you need to get your ass to the doctor ASAP.

I believe you're handling this disassociative episode in the appropriate way by presenting it for general consideration by a bunch of amateur philosophers.

So Helena should try the academics instead because there's more wisdom there?

That would be true if there were only two options: amateur philosophers and academics. Maybe there are other choices, like doctors.

OH, of course! Now why didn't I see that? :wink: :joke:

I have been drinking too much and sometimes get into a foggy state and even get lost. I am worried about this.The reason I drink in the first place is because it aids my reading and writing.
I do believe that alcohol aids me into altered states of consciousness and can lead me into heaven or hell. I believe that I have been to both. It is my own shamanic dreaming. But I wish that psychedelic substance were more widely available so that I could have a better alternative to alcohol.
I also wish that I knew someone else who used alcohol as a shamanic journeying aid rather than just as a socialising tool.

Yours a question for a mental health professional, preferable one qualified as actually believing in dissociation - because some do not.

Five-cent analysis is possible, probably you can do it better than most of us, but imo a disservice. You're smart enough to ask; you're smart enough to do the right thing about it, and to gauge the degree, urgency, and your need.

Fwiw, imo drugs a last resort.

As others have echoed here, such an issue should probably be relegated to a medical professional. If however you want an idea of what dissociation is apart from the mechanical, we can speculate.

One thing we've learned over the decades of studying the brain is that the brain is composed of several different parts and functions. A part of your brain handles digestion, and your heart rate for example. Consciousness can be seed as a regulator of manager between certain parts of the brain. Some things you have control over, others you don't. But consciousness is part of the brain itself, meaning it is influenced by those separate parts as well.

It has been my idea that certain parts of the brain want things, and the degree that they wish to express themselves over others varys. People with a temper for example have to manage a part of the brain that gets angry easily, and it can be very difficult for the consciousness to control.

So on that note, I could speculate that there is a part of your brain that heavily still desires alcohol. You as the conscious regulator understand and tell it no, but it may in effect be "fighting back". This makes it more difficult for you, the conscious part, to remain in control.

Fortunately, we understand that neurons can be trained to strengthen and diminish the strength of neural signals through repetition. If you keep shutting down the urge to drink alcohol, and keep steady on your decision, over time you might be able to tame that part of your brain.

Of course this is PURE speculation. Please only use thoughts like this to give meaning or some semblance of peace to yourself. In all matters medical, speak with a professional.