a catalog of dissolution

Personal Dissolution

The self undone: hedonistic burnout, addiction, ego death, nervous breakdowns, and identity fragmentation.

• Ego DeathThe temporary dissolution of the self, whether by chemical, spiritual, or accidental means.
• Hedonistic BurnoutThe dissolution of the self through excess: when pleasure becomes its own punishment.
• AddictionThe dissolution of agency: when a substance or behaviour replaces the will.
• Nervous BreakdownsWhen the self temporarily dissolves under stress, and what reassembles afterward.
• Identity FragmentationThe dissolution of the unified self into multiple, sometimes contradictory, sub-selves.
• Ego Death in LiteratureHow fiction records the vanishing of a self using the instrument that is vanishing