Is this normal on LSD?

[Germinator]

Hello Bluelighters,

I did my first time LSD a month ago. it was a larger group of friends with whom I took it and some of them I didn't know very well. i dropped only half a tab so I didn't have crazy visuals. I loved listening to music while on it.
However I was very anti social and was pretty afraid to speak to people especially if more than one at a time. I quess that's how people feel when they have social anxiety. And it was even hard to speak with my clower freinds because i did not find a topic we could talk about or if I found one I didn't know HOW to say it.

Also I was pretty anxious. it was at night when I took it and I would allways see persons who weren't there out of the corner od the eye and when I focused on it it was just a trash can for example. I also sometimes thought someone is following us but when I looked behind me no one was there.

I don't think I will do LSD ever agin even though some aspects were poasitive in my experience. i am just way too scared that Acid could trigger a mental illness in my brain. What are your thoughts on this?

 

[spacejunk]

Acid definitely has the potential to make you socially anxious.
The effects vary a lot on the environment you trip in, and the headspace you are in at the time.

These crucial factors are known as "set and setting".
LSD heightens so many of your senses and thought processes that doing normal everyday things can become incredibly challenging!

This is absolutely normal and a part of the experience of taking this drug. Some people are more at ease than others at (temporarily) losing this sense of control.
I wouldn't worry too much about developing a mental illness because of this; psychedelic drugs by their very nature give you a very altered perception of self and the world around you.

I have become reasonably good (with much practice over the years!) at basic social interactions whilst tripping on acid, but certain things - such as walking into a shop and buying a drink or a snack - is something i still find incredibly difficult at times.
What to say to the person behind the counter?
What is it i want to buy? What is the brand name for said product - and where do i find it?
Do i grab it myself, or must i ask for assistance from the shop keeper?
And most complicated of all (in that moment) how do i pay for it???
The idea of money, adding up values of coins/notes, understanding what each currency denomination is worth....do i have enough? What combination of notes/coins do i need to achieve the required amount to exchange for the item? Adding/subtracting/multiplying values of currency - FUCK!
....when i'm tripping these things become so very difficult and abstract!

There is a tendency to overthink things - and in doing so, forgetting some of the most elementary skills and day-to-day bits of knowledge we use to navigate through the world.

LSD messes with that knowledge, good and proper!

For me, it is all part of the fun, but i know some people are really disturbed by having their normal thought patterns so disrupted, which i can totally understand. But i see it as all part of the trip - and at its worst, it is an inconvenience to laugh about later.

However, with a bit of planning and foresight, you can take some simple steps to make the experience as comfortable as possible and avoid much of the anxiety you experienced..

Tripping with one or two people is much easier than large groups, in my opinion. I love tripping alone, but it can be good to have someone to bounce off.

But really, i wouldn't recommend inexperienced trippers take acid in social situations; it's just not that kind of drug - for me it is best used in situations where i can be as introspective as i want without feeling self-conscious or worrying about what others think of me.
I think for most people, acid messes with our linguisic faculties. You are definitely not alone there!
When i can talk on acid, it more often than not comes out a load of babbled nonsense.
Thoughts fly around my mind faster than i can put them into words - and often by the time i've worked out how to articulate a thought, i will have forgotten what the thought was to begin with.

Yep, that's LSD! Crazy, profound, silly, beautiful, messy, hilarious and sometimes a little scary.
It's not for everyone - or every situation, or every weekend...
But i love it

 

[gkmc]

i know how u feel "could not find a topic to talk about" - but thats not about while tripping, just former social anxiety

 

[Germinator]

Thanks for your response SpaceJunk, great information! I might give LSD a shot when I am older, because I think I might not be mature enough to handle the drug properly. Currently I am 17 years old so I still have lots of time to experience psychedelics.
What I was very converned of though was that I was seeing peopke who weren't there out of the corner of the eye. Any advice on that?

 

[spacejunk]

i dunno man, everyone is different. Some people find ways of overcoming social anxiety, others contend with it their whole lives - regardless of drug use (or not).
You're absolutely right in saying there is no rush to do drugs - taking LSD can be very intense, and the hallucinatory element can be different to what people might anticipate before trying it.

I know that when i first used acid, i was surprised at some of the hallucinatory effects - i vaguely saw things in my peripheral vision as well. It was all quite confusing.
I think that so long as you are not experiencing these kinds of things long after the drug has worn off, you will be fine.

But there is absolutely nothing wrong with deciding you might want to wait and possibly try psychedelics again in the future. It seems a sensible response to a difficult experience to me.
LSD is certainly not everybody's cup of tea

 

[Rasasvada]

Trying to be social on LSD is just dumb. Im not saying you shouldn't take it with people, but you shouldn't shoot the shit like you normally would. Talking is much more difficult. It's a good idea to only do it with close friends, because you always want to talk to people you don't know / you feel obligated to.

I recommend taking it alone, or with a handful of close friends and just say stuff ONLY when you genuinely feel like it - which might not be often. It's fun to just walk around and follow your silly impulses, and get wrapped up in the experience and how cool it is, rather than how awkward it feels that you can't communicate properly.

And most definitely do not have sober people around doing sober stuff and god forbid constantly asking you if you see x or y.

 

[jupiter55555]

Great set and setting advice. To play devils advocate, in my experience, taking half of a tab is more frustrating than having a full-featured uncomfortable learning experience. The 'bad trips' are the most important and can be integrated and learned from. But it takes 150 micrograms to break through the ego's threshold, so unless the tabs were bought from someone trusted at at least 300mics, you weren't experiencing the full synergy of the different brain networks that LSD allows to synchronize. Meaning the physical energy in your ego (prefrontal cortex) was caught in a loop between wanting to hold back or wanting to open up to the subconscious (which happens after the 150mic threshold is passed).

I love tripping alone on a comfortable dose, definitely the best. But I've had amazing times with friends and friends of friends that are tripping with me. Being with someone who is acting as socially awkward as you brings up the funniest things. LSD is definitely a social drug as long as EVERYONE socializing has taken it! LOL It promotes compassion and can bring people together, the problem starts when you feel the need to hide the fact that you're tripping, therefore exert more energy into controlling your ego, therefore becoming self conscious, therefore trying to stop the subconscious from reflecting up, which the LSD doesn't allow, which as you can see easily throws people into a wild loop.

I'd say block out a good 18 hours and try it again, with one good friend with experience and a proper 200mic dose. Set and Setting can be equated to Mind and Body, it's all about the synergy. And don't try to do anything even mildly important, it only works if you let your ego be fully receptive to the energy flow of your subconscious, that's all the indoles do anyway!

 

[jupiter55555]

Oh and also just to point out, the doses aren't necessarily dependent upon your body size, but more on your chemistry. Everyone responds to every drug differently, but the 150 micgrogram rule is pretty standard even if someone is smaller. if anything it would just hit them harder, still just affecting the brain. A lot of people don't mention whether they smoked weed or not, which could greatly contribute to anxiety on a small dose, especially if smoked before the LSD had time to synchronize the networks.