Eli5: What exactly is ‘ego death’ and its role in treatment with psychedelic substances?

Question

I’ve read stories about how it’s a sought after side-effect and key factor for treating mental health issues using substances like psilocybin or ketamine. What about it actually helps improve the mind? For those that have experienced it, what does it feel like?

In: Other

Answer 1

I’ll start by linking you to one of the many, many articles online that explains this topic well: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-ego-death-psychedelic-use-7089738

Then I’ll follow up by saying that I’ve taken many but not all of the hallucinogens. LSD, mushrooms, ketamine, some of the esoteric 2C class, GHB, and some letters I can’t remember. I haven’t yet had the chance to do ayahuasca or mescaline, and I am no longer sure if I feel the need to try them. Ibogaine intrigues me. I also have done a fair deal of MDMA, although it’s not really a hallucinogen.

I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced a true ego death, but on therapeutic ketamine under the watchful gaze of a licensed practitioner I definitely got pretty far out of my body. Much farther than I’ve gone when just using drugs for a good time.

I’ve had a few notable trips on acid where I was really able to make some progress with mental issues. Eventually I got interested in doing this therapeutically and I have been able to have one truly therapy-minded trip (vs just for fun at a festival).

The generally positive effects of all the hallucinogens I’ve tried have been to shake up the neural pathways – aka “getting you out of the rut.” Just like a road, your brain develops patterns/paths and hallucinogens can force your brain to take new paths and leave some of the old ones behind. But your brain will eventually try to come back to the old ways. I find that a few weeks after a good trip the depression and anxiety comes back, although not always as severely as it was before.

Getting back to your question, my understanding of ego death is that you get so far away from your well-worn neural pathways that define who “you” are that no longer know who you are. You just exist. All of the little things that define you and trap you no longer matter. Once freed of this constraining sense of yourself, you can look objectively at the things that have been weighing you down and decide not to carry that weight anymore.