Comedown - The Day After: Reintegrating after a difficult experience

[T.D]

Hey, my imaginary friend cookie said he dropped acid at about last night, 16 hours ago, and a rather painful lonely trip ensued... This was his 6th session, and 2nd time alone.

The first time cookie dropped acid alone was 3 blotters on a beach which was initially empty and close to his home but seemed to gather more and more people on it. Total loss of identity/ego followed, and not expecting this on such a dosage due to other experiences cookie became rather anxious and really lost any sort of grasp of reality in his life though did not panic/feel bad, just very very on edge.

The second time cookie dropped along, was his experience last night. The initial waves of paranoia set in due to his mother coming home unexpectedly as he had mixed up the dates she was due to be going on holiday on and managed to tell her he was ill and was going to sleep. Laying down on his bed with some headphones in playing some chill-out progressive trance music. Basically, to sum it up, from 11:30 until 10-11am cookie was absolutely exhausted of fear and nausea and just overall horror. Cookie is still not able to get to sleep 15+ hours after dropping, and is still shaking slightly at the experience.

The point of this post really, is from other experienced users' opinions what is the best way to come down from such an experience and resettle back into the consensus reality?

Cheers

[Panthers007]

Eat food. Rest. Maybe have a drink or two. Rest. More rest. It all fits back together without fail.

[tinytom]

we all learn from mistakes

swim can imagine the first horror swiy went through when they found out the mother was on her way home.

[Songcycle67]

SWIM has had some doozies where he's actually thrown up because the trip was so bad. Not sleeping for days, anxious wild ideas brewing constantly in his head. Paranoid and disconnected. It all goes away. The best thing that works for him is staying the hell away from weed and other pseudo-psychedelics and taking a few benzos or having a drink to try to calm down. The important thing is not to be too harsh on oneself. Bad trips can make people extremely self-aware and self-conscious for weeks or months, but they will inevitably return to normal.

SWIM believes that this is only par for the course. The bottom line is that, generally, if one takes enough LSD to engender a true psychedelic experience paranoia and anxiety are part of the package. All true heads have experienced moments (or weeks) like this, but SWIM believes that most individuals who are enticed by this substance are ready for its half-life as well. Just tell the person to be willing to incorporate what they have learned from the experience into their waking life and, although this will take time, time is on their side and they will probably come out the other end feeling more themselves than ever before.

I hate to break out the old cliches but:
Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good advice

[T.D]

Cheers guys, the paranoia and bad feelings are starting to fade although cookie's self-esteem hasn't been as low as this for a loooong time. He doesn't really suffer from problems with self-esteem although I have to say cookie is extremely self-conscious and harsh on himself right now, but as you said I trust that this will fade.

The talk of "applying" experiences from LSD sessions is something I do not understand yet, and should probably be a topic of its own but can anybody briefly explain how one goes about doing this? Cookie has had amazing experiences on the drug and has had "revelations" about his life and how insignificant he is compared to how important he thought he was, and that he should live a more truthful goal-orientated life and spend more time just "being" and in nature etc... yet these experiences have not really motivated him further than a few days after the LSD sessions to improve his quality of life etc

Any feedback would be lovely cheers =)

[Songcycle67]

TD,

Cookie's sentiments about not being able to incorporate what he's experienced into his conscious life is definitely extremely common. Many of the founding fathers of psychedelic therapy even suffered from this problem. The bottom line is that he's never going to feel as "with" everything as he does on acid. Part of the effect of the drug is to make one feel as if they're a tiny tiny thread in the fabric of a giant quilt that never ends--with virtually no effort whatsoever. In waking consciousness this takes a great deal of effort. To see the world as interplays of energy, connected microscopically. But what he can do is look at the things that he has been shown. It is important to distinguish between nonsensical self-criticism and warranted self-criticism. Sometimes LSD can make people paranoid about things that they needn't be and sometimes it can hit the nail on the head. It's up to cookie to decide which aspects he agrees with and make the appropriate changes. This gets easier as time in normal consciousness goes on and this is why SWIM recommends only dosing after the previous information has been integrated.

It's important to know that LSD isn't going to do it for him. He must ultimately use the revelations and insight, much like one uses a book, to try to direct his life down the appropriate path. It takes work and sacrifice to do this. The fact that cookie is reaching out for the proper direction is an excellent sign. Many people only want the fireworks and not the fire, if you will, and that's why a good majority of people relegate themselves to recreational use. It's too hard to change so they just take LSD once a week and act like they're the buddha.

So just tell him to look at the things that have been shown to him, decide which parts he agrees with and feels would improve the quality of his life, and then lie with those problems and sort them out. He has to be (and seems to be) willing to face the hard bits and take action. But he can't just fight with himself, he has to be willing to look at the negative as objectively as possible.

Cookie seems to be an extremely smart fellow who is in this for what SWIM believes to be the right reasons. Tell him not to be too hard on himself and to take his time. Tell him not to be discouraged if he relapses back to the person he was before. It takes a lifetime for someone to find out what happiness is for them, but he can refine himself, slowly but surely, using LSD as a tool to see the bits he normally wouldn't.

I would also recommend that he read about confronting The Human Shadow (the darker part of the self that gets blocked out by the conscious mind). There are a few books around that discuss using psychotropics, ecstasy in specific, to confront the human shadow.


Sorry for the length. I hope it helps cookie out.

[T.D]

The length of your response is very much appreciated pal =) The feeling Cookie has been left with, after all his experiences with LSD is that humans are simply animals with an amazing capacity to experience full-on awakened consciousness (or enlightenment if you will) yet having this part of the brain activated/ego deactivated all of the time would infact be detrimental to human survival as one would simply not be interested in pursuing earthly endeavours such as finding mates to reproduce with, making human alliances (Friends), trying to improve standards of life for other people and would instead enjoy creation for what it is and simply 'be'.

So realizing this, I'm left with a confusing and hard decision to make, which is to either pursue the materialist/animalistic aspects of human existence hardcore, and achieve "success" as the world sees it, whilst cookie takes LSD once in a while recreationally to enjoy the fully awakened consciousness of being or to pursue spiritual development which would seem to go against the biologically programmed purpose of human existence and attempt to live in a perpetual state of full-on consciousness Eckhart Tolle-style (author of books such as The Power of Now, and A New Earth - many buddhist elements of living in the present explained beautifully in these books =)).


On cookie's most euphoric session with the drug, he "experienced" the universe as it was - rhythms of infinity and danced with infinity/the universe/being, knowing full well that he was a simple animal who was blessed with the chance to experience infinity and all as it is - infinite. It seemed during this that he should be living his life in the way which nature intended it to, which would invovle things such as being healthy, long life, reproductive success and so on. Yet something else tells me he should strive for an even higher ideal which would be to work towards a perpetual state of consciousness through meditation and cookie's careful use of entheogens etc The balance between the two is hard for cookie to place right now, but one can hope the road becomes apparent as he walks along it.

Anyway, cheers for the response and anymore would be extremely appreciated =)
Sorry for anybody totally confused to hell about my post haha !

Cheers

[Songcycle67]

TD,

You are absolutely correct about the ego. Cookie can never lose his ego lest he lose himself. You are correct to assume that this is not the point of the LSD experience. The point is to see the possibilities. I see by your post that you're a fan of buddhism and there is a term in buddhist teachings called "the personal buddha." If you haven't heard it, it's basically a description of a person who becomes enlightened and in order to stay in that headspace they alienate themselves from the world and no one but themselves benefit. But then...do they even benefit?

The truth is that it's give and take. Unless he alienates himself and puts great effort into starving the ego out of the body he will remain human (thankfully). But! With the wonderful exception that he has seen that there are other possibilities and there is a lot more to the world than can be seen with the naked eye (physically or metaphysically speaking). If he gave up his ego who would be there to benefit from its destruction? There is no option really, he will remain human, an animal, an inhabitant of the planet earth in our solar system; but with the insight to know that there is the potential for something more. And that's really all one needs...that's the true lesson. This potential will shine through in him, whether he realizes it or not.

It is indeed a juggling act, but a more glorious one to achieve there is none. He is on the right path, just tell him to keep walking...knowing that his vision (physically and metaphysically) is now just a bit sharper than those who haven't had the pleasure of this experience. He's lucky to have such a well-informed friend as you, T.D.

happy trails!

[Panthers007]

Advice from the psychedelic-trenches: Don't try. The way these things are incorporated does not lend itself to effort - or analysis. They incorporate in subtle ways most don't consciously notice. Except in retrospect. One shouldn't worry that "The acid didn't take hold." It has and will make itself known when needed. Not on command.

Glad the Orangutan is up and running. Told him it would all fit together again. LOL. Amazing, ain't it?