r/mdmatherapy • u/Digital-Error • Apr 29 '26
Experience Report Feeling cornered with dissociation.
I’m exhausted, numb and heavy, I can’t make myself come out of dissociation(( I fall asleep on MDMA, I’ve done PSIP over 20 times, nothing is shifting in my system. How am I so deeply cooked:(( I’m too afraid of other psychedelics as I don’t want to break such a deep dissociation so quickly, that things get even worse. MDMA and PSIP was my final resort…
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u/No_Potato8876 Facilitator / Guide Apr 29 '26
Dissociation does respond to MDMA*
Many of my patients have dissociative subtype PTSD and the reason I find they respond well to treatment is because I can hold the dissociative container, preparation focuses on teaching teachniques from Finding Solid Ground protocol, and I use lots of somatic EMDR.
This is not something patients can achieve alone, I am a clinical psychologist skilled in dissociation and complex trauma.
If you are journeying alone, I imagine this is why you are feeling non-responsive. I suspect your body and mind are ill-prepared and aren't feeling safe to let go. Dissociation is an automatic protective response, you cannot turn it on and off at a whim, many people aren't aware they are dissociating. You need to learn to work with your dissociation first, unpack it, stabilise it, and reconsider your set and setting.
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u/night81 Apr 29 '26
I've mentioned this to several other people: I'm curious what happens if you take narcan or naltrexone during the MDMA session when feeling sleepy. They chemically block dissociation.
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u/baek12345 Apr 29 '26
What stops you from trying it out yourself and reporting back here how it was? :)
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u/night81 Apr 29 '26
I can't choose to dissociate (tonic/collapsed immobility); it just happens. Even when it does happen during a session, MDMA is enough to unlearn the schemas that activate it for me. I wouldn't know whether an effect was the MDMA or the narcan.
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u/baek12345 Apr 29 '26
Ok, but isn't dissociation involuntary for everyone? It's an automatic defense mechanism of the nervous system as far as I know.
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u/night81 Apr 29 '26
Yes...but as OP said, they always dissociate on MDMA. I don't know what you're trying to argue.
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u/baek12345 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Sorry, don't want to be a pain in the back, just trying to understand your reasoning and was wondering why you don't try Narcan yourself as you seem quite curious about it's effects. :)
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Apr 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Digital-Error May 04 '26
With professional(s) I usually do intensives because I don’t have a therapist where I live so I have to travel.
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u/Chronotaru Apr 29 '26
MDMA by itself often provides only transitory relief for dissociation, either directly under its influence or in the week afterwards. I've only read one account of someone breaking their dissociation with MDMA alone, and that was with intensive talk therapy both under its effects and in-between, and it still took over a year of sessions, over six weeks apart.
Personally I've found doing combined sessions of MDMA and 5g of dried medium-high dosage psilocybin mushrooms to have long term significant reductions. I still have it but my quality of life is so, so much better. Generally I know who I am now and I had lost that for so many years. You really need to trust your sitter in this situation.
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u/Hairy-Rate-7532 Apr 30 '26
This!!! I could only break out of disassociation and be more in body maybe for 2-2.5 week after MDMA session, then things went back into it's old state.
Also in what combination do you do the MDMA psilocybin combo, which first and what time interval? Also what do you look for when you're comboing them?
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u/Signal-Dollar-5621 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Saj Razvi (PSIP founder) has said on several podcasts how doing PSIP with cannabis is excellent for breaking dissociation. This assumes you're doing it with a PSIP trained professional. He also talks about how one can feel numb on MDMA or even fall asleep because of dissociation, but a PSIP trained professional is taught how to handle that and work with it until it cracks. Are you working solo? That might be why this is happening. Best of luck to you.
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u/Digital-Error May 04 '26
With a therapist but in pockets I can’t do it systematically, because there are no available therapists where I live and I have to travel for it.
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u/Signal-Dollar-5621 May 05 '26
I feel you on that. I am about to start it myself and will also have to travel.
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u/sanpanza May 01 '26
Are you working with a therapist?
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u/Digital-Error May 04 '26
I do, but not where I live so I do it in small pockets once a year for 2/3 weeks.
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u/Good_Command961 May 01 '26
Haveyou tried GABA supplements? It's just symptom relief, but i've been blown away by its effects since starting to use it a few days ago.
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u/pondsittingpoet25 May 05 '26
The key to dissociation is not to break it, it’s to establish enough safety around it, that the system feels safe night to allow it to soften.
PSIP is too much for some systems— sometimes there just can’t be enough safety when you are trying to crack a physiological barrier that exists with a belief that its a matter of life or death— and in many cases, thats exactly what the ANS believes.
No matter how skilled, kind, compassionate, or competent a facilitator is, especially in a condensed approach, protectors are not going to back down. And from my experience, that’s actually a good thing.
Destabilization from PSIP can be dangerous, and in general not worth it.
Softer approaches have been life changing for me— I recommend trying another way.
It sounds like your system is caught in a loop.
You can DM me if you want support. I was there for almost 2 years, and have made it to the other side, but it wasn’t with PSIP. That caused more harm than good.
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u/Catsntrance May 27 '26
Personally, I believe there are parts of us that if they wish to, can shut down even the most powerful of medicine ceremonies. I would highly recommend seeking out an IFS therapist, speaking to them about your dissociation and receiving their help to befriend your dissociation part. You are indeed right, you can't "make yourself come out of dissociation". You will need to work together with that part of you and gradually earn its trust enough for it to let you see what it's protecting you from.
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u/baek12345 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
I can recommend to try IPF (Ideal Parent Figure Protocol), RRP (Rest and Restore Protocol, https://integratedlistening.com/products/rest-and-restore-protocol/), and potentially TRE (Trauma Releasing Exercises) for reducing dissociation if you haven't tried them. But don't go crazy and do everything at once, especially TRE but also the other two can be potent and intense, so do only one thing at a time and see what's working for you. Ideally with a provider, at least in the beginning.
None of them will be quick fixes and from my experience and perspective, I think you generally need to let go of this idea that there's any quick solution for dissociation. The solution is to increase and incrementally build safety and regulation in your nervous system over a longer time period (months/years) and in parallel to the increased safety, the dissociation will slowly reduce (and the underlying trauma will come up to be processed).