A kind of silly question

[Nederlander]

Ok, I have a serious phobia of Roaches. And I'm worried that when taking a psychadelic this could manifest (I've heard this is very common). I wonder if I just smoke a joint before taking it, and if that would calm me down sufficiently...

 

[Shambles]

Cannabis tends to potentiate psychedelics and can often actually cause anxiety. Depends on the individual but if you are concerned about anxiety during a trip I would be very careful about smoking cannabis to try to counteract it.

As for the roaches, I really wouldn't worry about visions of them as you don't actually see "things" as such on psyches. It's more enhanced colours, patterns and waves - not objects, animals or people. I wouldn't worry about hallucinating one. I also wouldn't worry about thinking about them. Why would you start thinking about roaches? Having things to distract you may help allay any fears. Get yourself some music to play, maybe a film to watch or videogames - anything that you enjoy doing that you can use to take your mind off anything that comes up that you'd rather avoid. It's extremely easy to distract a tripping mind so make use of that feature

But truly, I wouldn't worry about it. Just don't think about roaches. Perhaps tripping with a close friend who you can talk to if anything concerns you could help too. But yeah, unlikely to be a problem but on the off-chance it is then distraction, fun and entertainment is your friend

 

[polidelaiko]

^+1.
But don´t take anticholinergics to trip (datura, belladona, jimsons weed, dramamine, etc) as they do make you see insects.

 

[kingme]

i have some fears as well, and generally some ideas of these fears can manifest during tripping (anxiety can take many forms), but generally, if you take things slowly, get to know yourself, the substance and have a nice set and setting you can steer clear of such things. even if the ideas/ images show up, it is possible to change that train of thought.

+1 to shambles' advice

 

[Solipsis]

Agreed with shambles. Smoking cannabis can indeed induce anxiety, especially if you smoke too much too fast (you can have increased sensitivity to it / synergy), better is to have a real anxiolytic on hand just in case, like Ativan or Xanax.

I have hightened skin sensitivity and this one time I was tripping acid with friends in the summer at a shack near a pond. Turns out there were a million mosquitos there and it was hellish, we couldnt leave either... too long away from home. The acid intensified it greatly. I can imagine that if you would come across a lot of roaches on acid it would not be good but thats not a realistic scenario.

What could happen though is that your irrational fears come to the surface and you have to deal with them... that can be very therapeutic. It would be extra helpful if there were someone with you to help you relax and go through it, let it all fall away from you - let go of the fear and of yourself. Such a thing can deeply help a person... but it can also get screwed up and increase neuroses.

Just start low, be prepared and get a tripsitter and/or benzo if you are overly worried but in general I think you should be totally fine!