Dosage independent intensity
Dosage independent intensity is the particularly rare and inconsistent experience of spontaneously amplified psychedelic effects that are extremely disproportionate to the dosage consumed. For example, a user may ingest a threshold dosage but spontaneously experience high-intensity effects, such as moderate to overwhelming geometry, distortions, internal hallucinations, spirituality enhancement, and even ego death.
This experience can often feel like a defiance of normal pharmacology. It usually takes the user by surprise and most commonly occurs during the peak of the trip. Individuals who experience this effect often describe it as being very profound and intense due to its unexpected and spontaneous nature. It is also worth noting that this effect seems to be most commonly reported by users that are already somewhat experienced with the substance being consumed.
Dosage independent intensity is most commonly induced under the influence of mild dosages of psychedelic tryptamine compounds, such as ayahuasca, psilocybin, 4-AcO-DMT, and DMT.
Personal Commentary
Outside of miscalculating the amount of substance that the person is consuming, dosage independent intensity seems to be quite a rare event. However, I have heard a number of credible accounts over the years from friends, as well as a first hand experience, that truly felt as if it defied all conventional models of pharmacology.
For example, my own experience with this was under the influence of a very non-traditional ayahuasca brew. During this phase of my life, my entire circle of friends had taken to no longer bothering to brew mimosa hostilis root bark over the course of several hours into a foul tasting liquid, but were instead simply blending the product into a fine, stringy powder and masking it within banana smoothies. In conjunction with Syrian Rue taken 45 minutes beforehand, this worked incredibly well and allowed all of us to use ayahuasca in a surprisingly accessible and casual manner. On this particular night, it was my friends birthday and the two of us were planning on tripping together to celebrate it. However, when we finally got around to consuming the root bark smoothie, a single tiny strand of the root bark immediately got stuck in the back of my throat on the first sip and made me almost vomit to the point where I knew that I could not drink any further and would not be tripping tonight. I had consumed what I would estimate to be less than 1% out of what was likely in the 15 gram range of material.
However, as we waited for my friend to come up on what was quite a heavy dosage, I began to notice that I was also coming up at the same rate and intensity as him. I was experiencing incredibly intense geometry to the point where I was having trouble seeing the room around me, alongside intense visual distortions and a multitude of cognitive effects. While this was happening, I heard a voice in my head tell me that I was being allowed to trip at this level despite my miniscule dosage because it was my friends birthday and that it would be more conducive for him to have an enjoyable evening if we were both tripping. At the time, this absolutely blew my mind and continues to baffle me to this very day.
While I am not sure what could have caused this experience, I suspect it was because I had used ayahuasca several times before and that despite the dosage, some sort of unknown subconscious process was apparently both present and actively capable of allowing that door in my mind to open regardless. From what I have gathered, other accounts of this seem to follow similar themes that, in my opinion, have some potentially interesting implications in regards to how the subconscious mind can impact a psychedelic experience and to what extent.
