Hi everyone. First post, long time lurker.
After some time spent scowering different fora on my questions, I could not find many similar discussions, and therefore wanted your take on it.
I find psychedelics very interesting, both for their pure recreational value, and for the introspection and insights they can help provide. However, I find it problematic that they also may induce bad trips, particularily at higher dosages, and for some people with particular personality traits. And rarily, some bad trips seemingly happen to experienced users on regular dosasges without previous mental illness or disposed personality traits. In other words, bad trips although rare, can happen to almost anyone, even though some precautions can be made. Some bad trips may also lead to serious negative long term consequences, purely through being a traumatic experience. Even though many claim, maybe rightfully, that bad trips also offer positive long term effects through dealing with difficult emotions/experiences, I suspect the net effect of bad trips are negative and should be avoided at all cost.
I also suspect that anxiety is one of the strongest precipitating emotions leading to what can be a downward spiral and finally a "bad trip". So I propose that if anxiety could be avoided, perhaps the incidence of bad trips also could be drastically reduced.
A very effective way of reducing anxiety is using benzodiazepines, commonly used medically and recreationally. Some benzodiazepines are even primarily anxiolytic, providing minimal sedation in lower dosages (f.i. clonazepam/klonopin). Benzodiazepines are often used during bad trips supposedly with varying, but often good effect, to return to a positive state of mind or "abort" the trip entirely. I have seen some conflicting reports, but for the most part, the lower dosages at least seemingly only reduced anxiety while psychedelic effects persist.
Given that these assumptions are correct, i would like to discuss the proposition that a very low dose benzodiazepine (0,25 mg clonazepam or say 5 mg diazepam or maybe even less), given just before or at the same time as a psychedelic (f.i. 150 ug LSD) to drastically reduce the risk of a bad trips without affecting the recreational or introspective quality of the experience. I have read in previous discussions that some believe this will negate the spiritual/philosophical/insightful aspects of the experience, while others have said it does not.
So, what are your thoughts on this?
After some time spent scowering different fora on my questions, I could not find many similar discussions, and therefore wanted your take on it.
I find psychedelics very interesting, both for their pure recreational value, and for the introspection and insights they can help provide. However, I find it problematic that they also may induce bad trips, particularily at higher dosages, and for some people with particular personality traits. And rarily, some bad trips seemingly happen to experienced users on regular dosasges without previous mental illness or disposed personality traits. In other words, bad trips although rare, can happen to almost anyone, even though some precautions can be made. Some bad trips may also lead to serious negative long term consequences, purely through being a traumatic experience. Even though many claim, maybe rightfully, that bad trips also offer positive long term effects through dealing with difficult emotions/experiences, I suspect the net effect of bad trips are negative and should be avoided at all cost.
I also suspect that anxiety is one of the strongest precipitating emotions leading to what can be a downward spiral and finally a "bad trip". So I propose that if anxiety could be avoided, perhaps the incidence of bad trips also could be drastically reduced.
A very effective way of reducing anxiety is using benzodiazepines, commonly used medically and recreationally. Some benzodiazepines are even primarily anxiolytic, providing minimal sedation in lower dosages (f.i. clonazepam/klonopin). Benzodiazepines are often used during bad trips supposedly with varying, but often good effect, to return to a positive state of mind or "abort" the trip entirely. I have seen some conflicting reports, but for the most part, the lower dosages at least seemingly only reduced anxiety while psychedelic effects persist.
Given that these assumptions are correct, i would like to discuss the proposition that a very low dose benzodiazepine (0,25 mg clonazepam or say 5 mg diazepam or maybe even less), given just before or at the same time as a psychedelic (f.i. 150 ug LSD) to drastically reduce the risk of a bad trips without affecting the recreational or introspective quality of the experience. I have read in previous discussions that some believe this will negate the spiritual/philosophical/insightful aspects of the experience, while others have said it does not.
So, what are your thoughts on this?
