Frankie,
Whether you're talking about marriage or this kind of mind management technology, they are all outward appearances. It seems to me rites of passage would be more of an internal shift, and of course the point is not the ceremony but the initiation into another stage of development.
From a spiritual perspective, it is also helpful to look at things in terms of union. Regardless of whether you're talking about a monogamous relationship or whatever, if you don't get along sometime after the honeymoon phase then clearly there is not a lasting union, and not a very thorough one because it evidently did not include everything - certainly not enough for them to stay together.
We tend to want to isolate and point to certain things as bad, but in terms of union itself nothing is left out - not even your negative emotions. Actually, that is the only way it can be neutralized, because it is included in a coherent whole and made conscious.
Of course this is ultimately bigger than your relationships, and bigger than 'you' for that matter. It isn't about the state one prefers to be in and identify with, all the positive and enjoyable emotions, that's as much ego as the nasty person who rips on people. So you can see that from a certain perspective, these would be ego oriented technologies - to make for a better experience for ego. And that's not to say there's anything wrong with that or anything, but of course ultimately you will only get beyond that suffering if you get past the egoic consciousness. This may strike some as some distant, lofty goal - but it is simply the most compassionate thing to focus on because anything less would not be inclusive enough, and ultimately not satisfying.