November 29, 2025
Self off, comments on
DMT-induced shifts in criticality correlate with self-dissolution
DMT study says your brain’s ‘self’ quiets; commenters ask if that’s good
TLDR: Researchers say DMT pushes brain rhythms into a quieter, less structured state tied to ego loss. The comments explode with confusion, skepticism, and a wild vape-pen link, debating whether this is meaningful science, safe practice, or just psychedelic word salad—and why it matters for consciousness.
A new human study on DMT (a powerful psychedelic) says it nudges the brain’s normal “alpha” chill-out rhythms into a quieter, less balanced state. Translation: more noise, less structure, and a stronger link to that classic psychedelic moment where your sense of “you” melts away. Researchers call it moving toward “subcritical” brain activity, which sounds like your mind turning down the main stage while side rooms get weird. Cue the comments: confusion and skepticism flood in. One user admits, “I can’t tell if this is good or bad,” while another fires off “Who here has actually tried DMT?”—instantly turning the thread into group therapy with a dash of Burning Man. A self-proclaimed science type drops a spicy TL;DR: “brainwaves simpler and more disordered”—and still “struggling to take anything meaningful.” Meanwhile, a curveball link appears to Bill Atkinson’s open-source 5‑MeO‑DMT vape pen, sparking side-eyes and safety worries. The vibe: half the crowd wants decoder rings for “criticality,” half just wants to know if losing your ego is “healing” or “yikes,” and everyone agrees the abstract reads like cosmic soup. Drama level: high, clarity level: subcritical.
Key Points
- •DMT shifts brain oscillations away from criticality in alpha and adjacent frequency bands, with similar effects in theta.
- •Under DMT, entropy increases while complexity decreases in brain dynamics.
- •The degree of criticality shift correlates with intensity ratings of self-dissolution during the psychedelic experience.
- •A functional excitatory–inhibitory ratio metric indicates the shift is toward subcritical regimes.
- •The study is open-access under CC BY 4.0 and includes specified funding and a disclosed industry affiliation.