People often describe their DMT trips as overwhelmingly terrifying. So I'm wondering, if a person's everyday life is not very stimulating, could they possibly die (of heart failure maybe?) when suddenly confronted with an intense and terrifying DMT trip?

That person would have to be extremely light hearted and minded and a really small wish for living.

Personally I think it cannot happen to an average joe

People think that they´ll die of fear all the time, when tripping. I suppose you could get a heart-attack. But in 99.999% of all cases you´ll just learn what humility means instead.

If you are already at risk of dying of heart failure from being suddenly startled, or watching a scary movie, or having a near-miss incident in traffic... Well, stay away from the psychedelics and go sign up at the local gym. Get that ol' pump working right.

Fear of death, or contemplation of death, are subjects that can arise when taking DMT. You are likely to come face to face with some of life's absolutes, and death is obviously one of the biggies. What I've found, after a bit of experience, is that I see this moment of contemplating death as being one of the common landmarks of the experience. When it happens, rather that getting freaked, I calmly note to myself, "Ah, the death landmark. Here it comes... And there it goes." them I move on to the next chapter of the trip. This happens almost every time, and rather than being scary or unpleasant it takes the form of a moment of deep reflection. I may even be more at peace with the idea as a result.

I would think deep seeded mental/psychological problems surfacing are a more likely negative side effect than death. I do wonder if the D has the ability to bring about these issues compared with other psychedelics...

I also wonder the same, how it manifests these issues relative to how other psychedelics or dissociatives do. I've had a lot of experience with another D, as well as other things, and they certainly helped put the garbage out on the block in plain view at times. I'm also curious how this particular aspect may differ if one is vaporizing it vs the aya preparation.

This is definitely true IME. Though I have generally viewed the experience differently, I completely agree. There is a definite change in how I view death because of psychedelics. It doesn't frighten me any more, but I think in many cases the "fight or flight" response can still be triggered and make one afraid. In this case its more of a biological response than a psychological one.

I think I'll try to incorporate your view of the "death landmark," it seems like a very wise way to view it.

To me, this question is in-line with the question of: If you die in your dream, do you die...period. I have never heard of anyone dying from a DMT Trip or from a dream...of course if someone DID die from a dream, they couldn't tell anyone could they...

I feel as if I am leaving my body when in a DMT Trance. It is scary but I tell myself to trust the experience. That calms me and even when I have absolutely no feeling of conection to my body.

I will say this, I had a heart attack back in 1997 and have a severe Mitral Valve Prolapse. I exercise 4-5 times a week and eat very clean. My health has greatly improved since 1997. I feel no ill effects from my experiences with DMT so if anyone was at risk, I think I would be close to the top of the list. If your heart is in good shape and your overall health is moderate to good....no worries!

(If I suddenly stop posting...uh ohhh!)<-Joking.

I think that odd things can happen. It may rain frogs once or twice...but don't expect science to come up with a mechanism to explain it, or predict it, anytime soon. The human mind may have strange and little known powers....sometimes things happen that just can't really be explained. As such, I do suspect that it possible, though exceedingly rare, for someone to die whilst tripping off of a non-toxic tryptamine. Call it "dark entities" or call it "self savatage enacted via latent psychic ability", or don't call it anything. I think death from "fear" or whatever whilst on wholesome tryptamines would be classified as a fortean event-- not reproducable or explainable, possibly not real at all, certainly not something to worry about.