i'm not fond of the term "subdrop" because returning to "normal" awareness feels more to me like surfacing after a deep dive than coming down from a high place, but i think you've described it quite accurately, icey.

Sometimes it seems that there's reluctance to talk about drop because, maybe, there's a belief that "if we do everything *right* then there shouldn't be any problem with subdrop," but i just look at it as a possible outcome of play, and try to plan accordingly.

i've experienced severe drop when scening with someone i don't know well and also (rarely) after a heavy pain session.

Sometimes i can relate it to the "depth" of subspace i experience in a particular scene, other times to a general feeling of not having been in prime condition before the scene even began.

Since it can happen after a great scene or a less-than-satisfying one, with someone i'm very close to, or someone more or less anonymous, the experience of subdrop afterwards is no reflection on the scene or the connection players may have, IMHO.

At the risking of offending, i do think that subdrop and aftercare are at least as much the bottom's responsibility as the top's. IOW, i've found it pays to know myself and how i respond, and have tested coping strategies at hand that i know work for me.