How often do you get bad trips? (read specifications before answering)

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

How often do you get bad trips?

Swim has read in many places that the frequency of bad trips, although significant, is exaggerated by the media and bad trips are in fact are quite rare. Swim would be interested to see if the experience of drug-forum users reflects this; or if it reflects anything else.

By bad, I mean full blown: not just slight paranoia or anxiety which you manage to overcome; but extreme terror, blackouts, physical injury, police involvement, hospitalisation, unbearable mental stress: Anything like these would constitute the kind of bad trip i am interested in getting statistics for.

My reasons for making this specification is that if i didn't, people would just vote according to their definition of a bad trip, which, although perfectly valid opinions, would lead to pretty useless statistics.

allow me to reiterate:

because of the nature of polls, if two people pick one answer, they have to have meant the same thing, otherwise the data would not reflect what people thought...

If you object to this, which would be perfectly valid, please go for "In my experience, trips are never simply good or bad" or just don't vote...

The one swim picked was: I have never had a bad trip, but haven't had much experience.

[robin_himself]

Swim never had a bad trip. A "bad" trip also isn't the way I approach and view life. Its simply perception.

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

Sighs... there's always one who doesn't read...

[robin_himself]

Originally Posted by Joe-(5-HTP)

Sighs... there's always one who doesn't read...

Even when I read your poll again, i can't help but stating my opinion in just the same way. You are conducting some kind of social survey and wish (as you mention) to keep it as unbiased as possible. Because everyones perception of the phenomena is different its not just that you leave a big question mark on what a "bad" trip is but you don't do justice to the complexity of it. People just might get the wrong idea about the "bad" trip and fear something for nothing. But thats my two cents.

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

Originally Posted by robin_himself

Because everyones perception of the phenomena is different its not just that you leave a big question mark on what a "bad" trip is but you don't do justice to the complexity of it. People just might get the wrong idea about the "bad" trip and fear something for nothing. But thats my two cents.

Indeed- you are totally right of course, but I think the unbiased information would be interesting and useful. There are other threads to discuss the complexities of bad trips- and they are much much more useful and should serve to dispel unnecessary fears- but i think this survey has its place in this great forum of knowledge.

[Nature Boy]

Went for the last option: trips are neither good or bad. SWIM has had trips where some obstacles have come up, vomiting on Philosopher's Stones or whatever, but he's never had a bad trip given the criteria above. Bad trips are rare when the set and setting are taken care of. Through experience one learns how to ride out trips even if they do seem to take a turn for the worse. It's a mind-altering drug, it wears off. No big deal. Novices can't rationalize like that necessarily.

[Wierd Logic]

Psychedelic trips emotionally are a bit like normal life, only amplified. You are bound to have ups and down - and these are amplified by the psychedelics. By nature, some psychedelics just make squirrel happy (2c-b is probably the best example) but as long as you get your SET and SETTING right, you can minimise the badness in a trip and maximise the happiness.

Squirrel voted "in my experience, trips are never simply good or bad" because he's fussy, but in answer to the question he's never had a bad trip similar to the ones described, however he has had absolutely HORRIBLE "moments" (e.g. once he thought he was in the holocaust, with lots of thin naked people around him) that he simply has to pull himself mentally out of, often by removing himself from the environment he was in.

EDIT: It should be pointed out that by nature psychedelics can be very unpredictable and correct mind set and physical setting aren't guaruntees of a good trip! Don't take large doses if you aren't for it prepared to kick you up the backside! Squirrell always knows its a risk.

[old hippie 56]

Swim first tripped in 1974 and his last trip was 2008, and he can remember 1 bad experience. It involved the law and other variables. Wasn't for the law it wouldn't have been a bad one. Pickup got stolen and the law was just informing him that they found his truck.

[Laszlo1]

Swim selected "psychedelics do not agree with me"
He has a bad trip maybe 3 out of 5 times.
Weed is too much for him, it begins with him feeling physically out of his element, and ends with feeling like he's lost his mind and done something horribly wrong. DXM usually shows him a good time, and he's glad for that, but he hasn't done that since january of last year, excepting one time in the fall, which was a terrible trip. LSA he had one mild good trip on out of many attempts (none of which were bad, they just failed). He's probably tripped and had a bad time on something he can't remember right now.

Although it's worth noting that swim never approaches tripping spiritually or even very intelligently, he just "parties." In future trips he plans to spend some time thinking, before the trip, what he wants to accomplish, and he needs to get setting (not set) in order too.

[Phungushead]

Based soley on the criteria in the original post (specifically blackouts/physical injury), SWIM is closest to 1 out of 200.

Although there are several others that have been difficult at times, none of them really constitue a full-blown bad trip, by SWIM's standards or those of this poll.

SWIM personally sees a bad trip as an absolutely horrible experience from which nothing is gained.

[Wierd Logic]

Originally Posted by Phungushead

SWIM personally sees a bad trip as an absolutely horrible experience from which nothing is gained.

This bit is important, as is swijakeltas post ^^. Bad mental states on psychedelics are, for Squirrell, almost invariably, ultimately psychologically rewarding - you got through the experience using your mental powers, or it made you realise soemthing about yourself, or any number of things. This is a personal thing for swim, Monkey has seen others have bad trips and prolonged mental states where absolutely nothing valuble is gained.

[Punchme]

Swim haven't had a bad trip. Before swims first time he read a lot about Salvia to minimize the risk of a bad trip. If swim would like to try another drug, he'll gather a lot of info before trying it. It works for swim.

[wednesday]

in SWIMs experience you have to accept any "bad" just as much if not more readily than anything "good"
salvia is perfect for swim

[Jatelka]

The flamingo has never had a bad trip (among 100's) as defined by the OP. She has had some bad moments, but they have passed, as these feelings do.

She's not entirely sure though about what level of physical injury qualifies? She did fall over a style, running away from a policeman once, which resulted in a broken nose, but wouldn't really count that, as she has fallen over drunk on many more occasions, and could have broken her nose on any of those

Please note that painful/distressing/frightening at times does not necessarily equate to bad. Her most painful experience was extremely cathartic, and ultimately healing. She would not be the woman she is today without it

[Jatelka]

The flamingo is bumping this. She's extremely interested in the answers. So come on: Vote damn you (r monkeys)!

[humdroid]

In my experience, trips are never simply good or bad

Imo, the criteria in the first post for a bad trip are too restrictive.
What of all the people who have had freakouts, and not had hospital/police involved.
Psychedelics, being what they are, often teach people, on their freakouts, how to bring themselves out of it.
SWIM has been alone and had a few wig outs, which would have worried anyone else present, but SWIM brought himself out of them, and steered others away.
SWIM doesn't do big doses of psychdelics, as SWIM does not feel in a place to do so.
SWIM is still learning from the small doses.

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

Originally Posted by humdroid

Imo, the criteria in the first post for a bad trip are too restrictive.
What of all the people who have had freakouts, and not had hospital/police involved.
Psychedelics, being what they are, often teach people, on their freakouts, how to bring themselves out of it.
SWIM has been alone and had a few wig outs, which would have worried anyone else present, but SWIM brought himself out of them, and steered others away.
SWIM doesn't do big doses of psychdelics, as SWIM does not feel in a place to do so.
SWIM is still learning from the small doses.

TBH, i've given adequate reasons why i made those restrictions... if a "freakout" consisted of "unbearable mental stress" or "extreme terror" or "anything like these" then it would clearly meet the criteria... I didn't say that all the criterions had to be met... It seems to me that bad trips can vary in intensity from small freakouts to the full blown ones i described. This poll aims to gather information on the latter.

I am fully aware that many "enlightened" people believe that there are no bad trips. From the point of my poll, the way you deal with such trips or the way you interpret them really doesn't matter to me: what matters is how often you have a trip which matches or is close to the criteria i listed. I feel i must reiterate what i said in the OP:

"My reasons for making this specification is that if i didn't, people would just vote according to their definition of a bad trip, which, although perfectly valid opinions, would lead to pretty useless statistics. "

Anyway the statistics so far are interesting: it seems that on average people either seem to get very bad trips very frequently or hardly ever/not at all. keep voting please! I would prefer not to draw any real conclusions until there are many more votes.