As gravity dictates, whatever goes up must come down. During parties, we expose our bodies to an avalanche of stimuli that, once everything fades, leaves a mark not just on the body but on our state of consciousness. After that whirlwind comes a sort of “depersonalization” or “derealization” of the soul: a struggle to return to a more limited way of being in the world. And no, it’s not just a chemical effect. It’s the living proof that we’re not robots, that our bodies are territories where experiences, absences, mind trips, and desires get burned in deep —like scars, branded by fire on our flesh.
“The feeling of emptiness after using certain substances isn’t a random psychological thing; it has a pretty clear neurobiological basis. Many drugs, especially those that act on systems like serotonin, dopamine, or norepinephrine, trigger a huge spike in neurotransmitters during the trip. That high is what produces euphoria, connection, emotional openness, or sensory intensity,” explains Lucas Otazu, a medical doctor specializing in cannabis therapeutics and trained as a harm-reduction agent.
When we use, especially stimulants or perception-altering substances, the nervous system speeds up and eventually overloads. Later, as that activation drops, moments of disconnection can appear: a feeling of watching yourself from the outside, detached, less present, as if there’s a slight delay between your body and your self.
That’s why, when that high “drops” and the exposure period ends, our anatomy enters a rebalancing phase. The body isn’t just biology; it’s also desire, language, and memory. “The neurochemistry needs to return to its baseline after it’s been ‘drained,’ and during that comedown, sensations of emptiness, apathy, fatigue, or even sadness can show up,” Otazu adds. Often, that “emptiness” is simply the echo of an intensity …
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Author: Hernán Panessi / High Times
