Am I odd in my reaction to LSD, or just different from my crowd?

[Japhy]

Yesterday I took one hit of acid for the first time in a couple years. It ended up being the most intense trip of my life. Apparently the acid was quite strong, according to my friend who also took one hit.

We ended up taking a walk downtown to go watch a parade. My friend seemed to be 100% cool the whole time. In fact, he was acting practically normal (he does trip every two weeks or so).

However, for me, I ended up going into this very spiritual head-space and started to feel like I was about to lose control of my body and enter a fugue state. I could feel the shells of my ego floating away one by one and I didn't know how I'd be able to carry myself in public. I was exerting all my mental energy to hold myself together. I told him I wouldn't be able to go to the parade, I just couldn't imagine being around a bunch of sober people. When I told him that I felt like I was about to experience ego death, he seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. He asked me interestedly what I meant when I talked about the concept of "ego". Clearly he experiences psychedelics differently than I do.

When I do psychedelics, I almost always experience some degree of ego death and time stopping. I have profound insights into the nature of reality. However, my friend and his buddies just seem to just have a good time, see fun colors, etc.

Why do I seem to have a different experience than my social group? Is it because I don't trip as often as they do?

 

[perpetualdawn]

I don't think you're odd in your reaction. Everyone experiences psychedelics differently, because of different wiring, expectations, desires, experience, tolerance, sensitivity, life material leading up to the trip, who knows what else.

 

[CrypticArc]

That's totally normal. Especially for those who don't trip frequently. It just doesn't happen every single time, only occasionally.

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

I used to have a hard time being in public too but as I became more comfortable with psychedelics this discomfort quickly shed itself.
Some people are also more susceptible to deeply personal and profound trips, and thus, what some would call "ego death".
However I will mention the term ego death is ambiguous and often a disliked term.
I find people see it as something desirable, or necessary, to bringing about profound and life-altering trips, which is simply not true.
As a result many people end up dangerously mega-dosing on psyches with the mindset of "more is better" when in fact just as much, and most often more, can be discovered from a light to medium intensity trip with a positive and introspective mindset, opposed to full blown hyperspace where you are unable to keep a coherent train of thought, let alone discover anything profound.