How do you deal with bad trips? (and how often do you get them)?

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

Swim has used psychedelics (LSD, Mescaline and DMT) 6 times now and has so far had positive, although slightly overwhelming, experiences... swim knows, however, that if he continues in this fashion, he might, one day, get a bad trip...

swim knows about safe comfortable environments with trusted people/sitters and about letting yourself go and not "fighting" the trip, but swim is wondering if anyone has any advise about what to "think/tell yourself" when you are on a bad trip. or if anyone has any experiences of bad trips where a certain activity or thought process helped in any way....

swim has heard about people not "coming back" from bad trips and swim would like to be as prepared as possible, so any advise would be greatly appreciated.

swim would also be interested to know how often people get bad trips compared to good ones. swim's, for example, is 6-0 so far

[Fat Cop]

Well Swim has never tripped major balls, but he has tripped before where there was potential for a bad trip. He found that he could alter his feelings instead of his thoughts because its really the feeling of fear or anxiety that makes a bad trip kick into gear. Well its kind of tough to explain, but at times Swim was able to convert fear into excitement.

Think about it. What is the difference between feeling scared and excited? I would say the only difference is the feeling of falling and the feeling of being inferior or weak when your scared. But the rest of the sensations are very similar. I dont know, its kind of just like running through the fear or taking the fear on within yourself. Sort of like faceing it and then transcending it. Its sort of like grabbing that feeling, Stare it straight in the eyes and then flipping it upside down. I guess its somewhat similar to hugging you worst nightmare.


I dont know, maybe that made alittle bit of sense. Swim finds that once you have transcended the fear, the rest of the trip will be awsome!

[Synesthesiac]

Originally Posted by Joe-(5-HTP)

swim has heard about people not "coming back" from bad trips and swim would like to be as prepared as possible, so any advise would be greatly appreciated.

This is one of the main beliefs that can make a trip turn bad in the first place. I've seen it often, the person doing said substances starts saying things like "Oh crap what if i'm like this forever?" or "Its never going to end" and from that point on the trip gets worse and worse as they have convinced themselves this could be true. In reality, its bollocks, no-one has ever not "come back" from a trip and remained like that forever. There are a very few isolated cases of people having prolonged after effects, like psychotic episodes or getting flashbacks or mild hallucinations, but this is so rare it is really not worth worrying about any more than actually doing the drug in the first place.

swim would also be interested to know how often people get bad trips compared to good ones. swim's, for example, is 6-0 so far

Just change your mindset. Convince yourself that nothing bad is really going to happen and you should stop being scared and just enjoy it while it lasts, and a bad trip can be reversed every time.

[Phungushead]

1. Change the environment SWIY is in... as soon as things start to go down the wrong path. Change the music (SWIM has found this helps immensely), go into a different room, change the lighting, get around different people, etc...

2. It's not always easy, but acceptance is an invaluable tool in turning a bad experience positive again.

3. In borderline moments, something SWIM finds that helps is to watch something familiar in order to concentrate on something else... a familiar (non-depressing non-morbid) movie, people walking or driving down the road, etc.

As far as personal experience, SWIM has only had one trip go horrendously wrong... it was terrible, and a few that started to go bad, but were reversed before things went too deep. So only a handful out of a total count that numbers in the hundreds...

It can be hard, but it can be overcome...

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[Stationary Traveller]

In my opinion, just by separating GOOD trips and BAD trips you have made yourself available to such effects of the "bad trips". This means you either just want to enjoy yourself, and possibly not get many of the lessons such substances has to offer, or you are afraid you will learn something about yourself that you would not like.

Obviously if you are under physical discomfort (as well as external mental discomfort, like an annoying friend by you) there is potential to amplify them. But keep in mind you are facing none other than yourself while on such drugs (at least that's what my experiences have shown me). Just like staring at a mirror long enough (if I can draw the right analogy).

Good and Bad are (con)notations that we ascribe to certain aspects we face in our lives and they are largely programmed unto us by our environment i.e. parents, friends etc. When you are feeling uncomfortable ask yourself why you might be feeling so. What makes that particular experience "bad" in comparison to another, because experiences on such substances are what they are: sheer experiences. Only when you filter them on your own neural network do you arrive at a conclusion: BAD. Instead, ask yourself why it should be bad at all, and learn from it.

I hope I could explain myself, I wish you the best luck with your future voyages, and I advise you not to count scores, as this isn't a match to be won. You always win.

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[dyingtomorrow]

SWIM has always found that cocaine or opiates help with bad trips. Coke is good for party situations, where you want to trip and be social too. SWIM's bad trips usually consist of freaking out about how arbitrary, purposeless, pointless, small, SWIM is in the universe; how disgusting it is to be a tiny, powerless animal; a worthless fleeting dream in some God's head; coke keeps SWIM comfortable being human. Opiates are good for keeping your mind in a general positive state so you don't freak out.