[Bad Trip Subthread] Have You Ever Had a Bad Trip?

[seers_eye]

Bad trips for me often are directly correlated to the dose. Higher dose = higher chance of things going haywire or to a place one was not planning or hoping to go to.

Set + setting + positive mental state + being experienced or with experienced friends are necessary components to strive for the most positive and beneficial trips. Erowid is a fantastic resource that should be a mandatory part of any preparations for a psychedelic outing.

Don't mean to sound cliche but KNOW YOUR SOURCE. Dirty acid has produced more bad trips for my friends than any other drug. Dose low and test the waters if it is a new and unknown source, trust is very important when it comes to these states, both with oneself and others...

 

[RobotRipping]

if you get traumatized from a psychedelic you probably aren't mentally sound in the first place. I've been through drug induced psychosis and i don't even consider that bad.

thank fuck there are people like MGS and others who know better. I hate seeing this bad trip shit perpetuated by people. If you get the fear on a psychedelic, you are the fear, deal with it and move on. If you can integrate a bad experience, then it wasn't a bad trip was it? if you can't handle the walls of reality crumbling down in front of you and losing all context of who you are, what reality is and what is happening to you, then don't use psychedelics. If you can't let go, and you fight it, and refuse to give in, you'll be traumatized maybe, but if you're that kind of person stay the fuck away from psychedelics.

you can't just trust your source either, if humans were trustworthy people we would not live in a world like this today. Go lab test all the LSD around that people swear is LSD and you'll probably be quite fucking surprised when the lab analysis reports come back.

Erowid is so outdated, it's like a time capsule. The RC market has changed so much and the dynamics of the drug scene have changed so drastically, that erowid just didn't keep up, which is why BL is a much more valuable resource now.

what is meant by bad trips exist anyway, where do they exist? is it a concept? no, it's a subjective reaction to someone realizing that things aren't as they seem or that all of their beliefs have now been challenged. If you have a 'bad' trip the only way to fix it is with more psychedelics (stronger the better), this is an absolute universal truth and cannot be argued. A bad trip is where you actually take too low of a dose and can't take anymore. Or perhaps when someone loses their shit and starts breaking everything around them, seizes up and dies but IMO, there was something different about those people in the first place.

it's like saying you can get PTSD from a psychedelic. If you have things under the surface that you dont' want to think about, then don't use psychedelics, if you're ready to face your fears then load your pipe up with some DMT, 5-MEO-DMT and Salvia and brace yourself, it will be one hell of a rush.

 

[miscbrahh]

Before I did shrooms, I can honestly say I was depressed and wanted to off myself. Thought about it at least a few times / week. Sometimes less, sometimes more. If I had access to a gun, I just might have gone through with it.

The first time I did shrooms (by myself), it was all fun and giggles for the first couple hours, but then it quickly turned bad. Thought about all my past experiences, how I've treated people, what people must think of me, how I've treated my mom, potential career path, where I might be in 5-10 years, etc.
At one point, I had my eyes closed and saw an image of my mom. I kept saying "I'm sorry" to her, and apologizing for all the things that I've done to make her upset in the past. I started crying too, some of these things I haven't thought about for years.

So yes it was a 'bad' trip, but doing shrooms was one of the most beneficial things that I've done in my life. I no longer want to kill myself, I've been spending a lot more time with my mom and trying to make her happy, taking college more seriously, I started volunteering, a more positive outlook on life, etc.

I'm no doctor, but if anyone is reading this out there, and you're feeling really down, shrooms just might help you out. I know it did for me.

 

[Cartesia]

Ok, time for some mgs dicksizing here.....I am immune to bad trips and you know why? Because I have a background in psychology, I work to understand the/my mind every day and I KNOW that any experience on a 'trip' is MY MIND and not some external thing caused by some 'dangerous and illegal drug.'

I have been tripping for more than half my life, taken more variety of psychedelics than I have fingers and toes. Yeah, I think I know my mind and the drugs I take. But beyond experience it comes down to perspective.

Most of my original LSD experiences were all mental torture....they broke me apart into nothing.....my first real LSD trip I could not tell you anything about it other than it scared the FUCK out of me from the moment it came on, till I knew it was wearing down...the few times during the peak I had any ego...I was convinced it was always going to be this way/the effect would never wear off.

Guess what.....still one of the best trips of my life. SHEER hell to go through but how can I call it a bad trip? I felt reborn, so grateful to be alive once I knew it was going to end. The world is what we make it....a psychedelic trip is no different.

Some people want a ride, they get on a marry go round...other people get on the roller coaster.

There are no bad trips in MGS land, never met anyone who has had one either. I make no separation in my mind between my mind and the 'state' brought on by a psychedelic. I make no distinction between a calm experience, and one in disharmony....both are a product of my mind....both have lessons to teach and you know what...


[serious dick sizing and ego here]if you label it a 'bad trip' and see it as being caused externally, a product of some drug and not your own consciousness then you don't 'get it.' Period, end of statement and thank you drive through.[/dick is big]

Since you've studied psychology, you should know better than anyone that people can lose control of themselves and the ability to reason with themselves due to even minor internal/external factors. Despite feeling & appearing normal their entire life.
Just because you haven't encountered something that does this to you, it doesnt mean there isn't anything that could. Furthermore for someone to presume they had experienced everything something like LSD can offer is just as ridiculous as a person saying 'travelling overseas is a waste of time because its the same.'

 

[my3rdeye]

Don't mean to sound cliche but KNOW YOUR SOURCE. Dirty acid has produced more bad trips for my friends than any other drug.
-------

There is no "dirty acid", there is no "bad acid". There is just acid and you can have a good trip on it or a bad trip on it. It not possible to have bad acid that causes a bad trip. Remember when Wavy Gravy told people the brown acid was not good at woodstock? Yeah he was wrong, the LSD was fine.

 

[phuqk]

I've taken a lot of shrooms over the past few years and done DMT, LSD, and 2CE a few times. I have the most experience with shrooms, which I usually take 3-7 grams in my room in the dark by myself. I'm always aware that whatever I'm experiencing isn't reality, so the psychedelic experience never really frightens me, it just fascinates me so I've never had what I would consider a bad trip. However, I've had periods of time during a trip where I was uncomfortable. I've found that when life seems like it's going good, and I don't have a lot to worry about I usually have trips that are enjoyable from start to finish. On the other hand when there's an issue in my life that I need to confront I get these trips where the come up is uncomfortable, with gruesome images. I've even seen the devil in the room with me. Most people I know freak out and let these images get to them, but I just stay calm and remain aware that I'm tripping and everything will be okay soon. Then I think about why I'm seeing these things, and can usually come up with a pretty good explanation that involves something I've done wrong, and I think about what I need to do to change. After this good things start to replace the bad, and the trip becomes enjoyable again. In my experience these uncomfortable spans of a trip result from a conflict in my life that seems to be projected into the experience. A trip will bring up the best and worst things in your life, and you just need to be willing to face your problems head on.

 

[weadazoid]

I'm really not afraid of having a 'bad trip'. I've had a difficult experience once and I learned a lot from it so i'm grateful I had it. A lot of people say you shouldn't trip alone but to be honest, that difficult experience was set off by other people, not me. Next time tripping will be me alone in my house, alone with my thoughts. Seems awesome to me. Atleast i'll be able to do whatever I want, I tend to feel these boundaries when I trip with others and I don't like it.

My one and only 'negative' experience was just like this. Influenced by the calous impatience of others. It was my fault as well, walking into a superiorly large house party on a 10 strip. But hey I had been to raves, I had candly flipped I fgured this would be OK. Well a house party where beer and liquor is more common then at a Rave the vibes are very different.

I was coming up HARD...... I had 2 good freinds with me, they knew my plan was to sell some of the sheet I had brought with me.... 20 hits or so in a bag in my pocket. But they made the mistake of divulging that info to early in the night, had I just been given maybe 20 more minutes before my encounter all may have been OK.

BUT.... there I am trying to get a grip on a very intense come up and I get 3 kids who I don't know asking to buy from me. I wanted to be able to explain the potency, but could not even really talk..... tried to say "Look.... I can't even think about money or anything right now.... just give me some time, don't worry I will find you in a few...." or something like that


as they were walking away I distinctly heard one kid say... "yup time to call the cops... he is a dick"

OK... so downward spiral time, crazy horrible thought loops over the next 10 minutes, I tried so hard to get out of them, convince myself the kid was just fucking with my head. My boy Jim couldn't talk me down. That night I was a HUGE party foul, I felt as though if I was going down I was taking the party the house the whole farm with me. I was an asshole, I was insane, a poster child for what can go wrong. I kicked some kid in the face, and then was bounced out by some 6 foot 10 farm boy monster. I am just 5'11 I thought I could take him. My boy Jim talked me out of that one....thank god I had to leave, I had to go. Out into the open fields of Valley forge I went. Thnak god it was farmland and not suburbs....for I surely would have gone to jail.

That night I talked to a dog..... well it talked to me really it said .... "you look like other dogs" this made sense to me as spiritually I have always identified with a wolf. While bonding with a strange but freindly farm dog was awsome, and oddly calming/grounding I was not out of the woods yet, my peak was still to come, and while I had gained enough control to not be a screaming raveing maniac, it wasn't exactly/..... pleasent.


I took a long break after that... but eventually found my way back to yet another 10 strip, and that was A OK... proveing to me set and setting work. The pleasnet trip was just me, My girlfreind and 2 other good freinds.

Tripping alone is fine, tripping with a few close freinds is fine as well. depending on your experience level taking a hit or 3 and going to a house party or rave may be a blast. I do not recomend being anywhere near strangers when taking a high dose ie anything over 5 hits.

 

[RobotRipping]

Before I did shrooms, I can honestly say I was depressed and wanted to off myself. Thought about it at least a few times / week. Sometimes less, sometimes more. If I had access to a gun, I just might have gone through with it.

The first time I did shrooms (by myself), it was all fun and giggles for the first couple hours, but then it quickly turned bad. Thought about all my past experiences, how I've treated people, what people must think of me, how I've treated my mom, potential career path, where I might be in 5-10 years, etc.
At one point, I had my eyes closed and saw an image of my mom. I kept saying "I'm sorry" to her, and apologizing for all the things that I've done to make her upset in the past. I started crying too, some of these things I haven't thought about for years.

So yes it was a 'bad' trip, but doing shrooms was one of the most beneficial things that I've done in my life. I no longer want to kill myself, I've been spending a lot more time with my mom and trying to make her happy, taking college more seriously, I started volunteering, a more positive outlook on life, etc.

I'm no doctor, but if anyone is reading this out there, and you're feeling really down, shrooms just might help you out. I know it did for me.

yes exactly, this is precisely the reason why there are no bad trips. Was it rough emotionally? of course but you needed to get that shit out and to think about it and work it out just like therapy. This is the exact reason people say there are no bad trips. Psychs will hit you straight over the head with anything that may be bothering you under the surface, if you want to fight it, you'll have a very rough time, if you submit, and go with it, deal with those scary emotions, things bothering you and face your fears, you'll have a similar outcome as mentioned above. Nice post.

 

[crazycatman]

First time I tried 2c-e (14mg). Now I wouldn't call it a bad trip as a whole, but parts of it definitely were.

 

[IamMe90]

if you get traumatized from a psychedelic you probably aren't mentally sound in the first place. I've been through drug induced psychosis and i don't even consider that bad.

Probably. Or you had a serious physical/allergic reaction to a psychedelic that caused you trauma. Or external factors beyond your control occurred which were further intensified by the trip which collectively caused trauma. You know, sometimes shit happens that you can't control - if you really think you're immune to being caused trauma by anything life can throw at you, you're set. If not, those are the kinds of experiences I'm calling "bad trips." Bad trips are almost never inherent to the psychedelic itself, but they still happen.

what is meant by bad trips exist anyway, where do they exist? is it a concept? no, it's a subjective reaction to someone realizing that things aren't as they seem or that all of their beliefs have now been challenged.

You're getting a little philosophical here - no one thinks that bad trips have some kind of ontological status, they're just experiences that happen while tripping, partly influenced by the trip, that have provided no value to the subject. Some people can't take value out of watching their friend go to the E.R. or get arrested while tripping. Some people can, I suppose, but it's not crazy to me that others can't.

If you have a 'bad' trip the only way to fix it is with more psychedelics (stronger the better), this is an absolute universal truth and cannot be argued. A bad trip is where you actually take too low of a dose and can't take anymore.

How is the a universal truth? Some people will never fix their problems by taking increasingly higher doses of psychedelics. This is just unrealistic.

it's like saying you can get PTSD from a psychedelic. If you have things under the surface that you dont' want to think about, then don't use psychedelics, if you're ready to face your fears then load your pipe up with some DMT, 5-MEO-DMT and Salvia and brace yourself, it will be one hell of a rush.

Personally, I certainly think it's possible to get PTSD from a psychedelic if you've witnessed something traumatic while on a psychedelic. It's going to be possibly much worse than having experienced the event sober.

Anyway, obviously I'm in agreement that most trips have something of value to offer most people. I just don't think the generalizations are necessary, as such generalizations usually tend to have exceptions.

 

[RobotRipping]

Probably. Or you had a serious physical/allergic reaction to a psychedelic that caused you trauma. Or external factors beyond your control occurred which were further intensified by the trip which collectively caused trauma. You know, sometimes shit happens that you can't control - if you really think you're immune to being caused trauma by anything life can throw at you, you're set. If not, those are the kinds of experiences I'm calling "bad trips." Bad trips are almost never inherent to the psychedelic itself, but they still happen.

i can agree with that. I was arrested while on 4th plateau DXM tripping super hard and blacked out only to come to in the cop car lol and i laughed my ass off in there. The reality of the situation didn't hit until the dxm wore off and that sucked yeah but wasn't' traumatic, big pain in the ass though.

You're getting a little philosophical here - no one thinks that bad trips have some kind of ontological status, they're just experiences that happen while tripping, partly influenced by the trip, that have provided no value to the subject. Some people can't take value out of watching their friend go to the E.R. or get arrested while tripping. Some people can, I suppose, but it's not crazy to me that others can't.

yeah i get what you mean, those external factors can certainly bring about severe anxiety/paranoia/panic attacks while tripping really hard, but remember set and setting. Still, i have been through some shit on psychs and wasn't traumatized or anything. Some people may respond differently but IMO, those people should probably avoid psychs, especially in public.

How is the a universal truth? Some people will never fix their problems by taking increasingly higher doses of psychedelics. This is just unrealistic.

was being facetious sorry lol Really though some people can work out a bad trip by challenging the bad trip with more good trips and working out the issues the bad trip caused. Good/bad are just relative which is why i have a problem with the nomenclature.

Personally, I certainly think it's possible to get PTSD from a psychedelic if you've witnessed something traumatic while on a psychedelic. It's going to be possibly much worse than having experienced the event sober.

i agree here as well however it's not so much the psychedelic as much as it is the external factor. If you see your friend die on 25i after taking 3x his dose then yeah i'll bet you'll be traumatized and will probably not touch another psychedelic and that's fine. Really it's a combination of 2 factors here though. A psychedelic alone in a proper set and setting will not cause PTSD in a healthy and mentally sound individual. I can think of an infinite number of ways you could traumatize someone while on a psychedelic, but those are the same ways you could traumatize someone if they were sober, like US torture tactics!

yes all generalizations have exceptions, which is why they aren't universal truths. Even a universal truth is only so until there is one exception found (like the black swan thing if you know what i'm talking about; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory)

however there's an exception to every rule, including the rule, 'there's an exception to every rule'

 

[IamMe90]

^Is the statement "only statements which may in principle be empirically verifiable are meaningful" empirically verifiable? Yeah, black swan and related stuff is fun, lol. But I guess we're in the wrong thread for that

 

[Ciosrataecz]

It's all about the vibes, setting & the mofos around you during your trip. When I'm having a bad trip, I let it happen. I seek refuge, a set a goal. If I'm not in the right place with the right ppl I take the risk to leave on my own to find those two things. I acknowledge it was my fault I'm tripping horribly & all I gotta do is pull my pants up, be a man and hold on till the wild horse stops when it's tired !

 

[RobotRipping]

^Is the statement "only statements which may in principle be empirically verifiable are meaningful" empirically verifiable? Yeah, black swan and related stuff is fun, lol. But I guess we're in the wrong thread for that

yes wrong thread unfortunately. The black swan theory is interesting and funny to me, i love to throw that at people obsessed with empiricism and the scientific method. Will the sun rise tomorrow? based on empirical evidence yes, but not necessarily. Really throws a stick in the spokes of the objective/subjective distinction or analytic/synthetic. There's a thread in P&S that i've discussed such things in. Thinking about such things has a tendency to make my head spin and go back to my old school textbooks and try to work it out in predicate logic or something lol.

 

[Morninggloryseed]

Since you've studied psychology, you should know better than anyone that people can lose control of themselves and the ability to reason with themselves due to even minor internal/external factors. Despite feeling & appearing normal their entire life.
Just because you haven't encountered something that does this to you, it doesnt mean there isn't anything that could. Furthermore for someone to presume they had experienced everything something like LSD can offer is just as ridiculous as a person saying 'travelling overseas is a waste of time because its the same.'

Hey guys, I think I failed to make my point. When I speak of perception, context, life is what you make of it, there are no bad trips in MGS land...I am speaking of me, myself, and I....and my world, my family, my people in it. I don't have bad trips, there are no bad trips around here...not saying you don't have bad trips nor your friends. I am sorry I failed to adequately make that point.

I will say any of you wouldn't ever have a bad trip if you tripped with me....no one else has.

 

[Mitchi]

No trip is worse than watching TV.

I guess a trip is only "bad" if you expect it to be "good". Expectations, and trying to get something out of something lol. It just doesn't work that way

 

[gymstud]

Ive not had a bad trip
Closest is panic attacks but psychs dont really course them

 

[Morninggloryseed]

He gets it...and my fault for not making it clear to others. First of all...not talking about rape...talking about the difficult psychedelic experience and let's stick with it for this discussion.

Yes, bad trips 'exist' clearly for other people, I cannot deny the experience of others.

Bad trips do not exist for me because I have never had one...and in my tripping career I have come to make no distinction between 'tripping' and 'reality' they are one in the same to me. Similarly, I make no distinction between 'the peaceful trips where God fills your heart with the love of the Universe" and trips of chaos where the psychedelic is opening up your experience to something akin to 'mental rape.'

The thing is, when I say I make no distinction between 'reality' and 'tripping' I take it further...I do not see the psychedelic as a 'drug' which is some external factor. I see the psychedelic as a tool for helping one have an important life experience, same as that first kiss, same as a family having a kid, same as getting married. I don't see any aspect of the experience as being caused by anything other than a firestorm in the brain...all experiences produced are in the brain...the good bad and the ugly.

Remember, I do not haphazardly take psychedelics.....even if the way I use them may make others wonder , 'why is MGS tripping again' (often as they take a drink), I always have intention, purpose, a ritual, and whatever the outcome...I always write about, discuss it with others if I need to.

Because I know the difficult trips are just my mind, the issues brought up in a difficult trip are ones to be further explored instead of being dismissed a just a factor caused by some external thing...in this case a 'dangerous and illegal drug.'

This is called, 'aftercare' or follow up care. I'd say 99% of the trippers in our modern western world have no connection to what that means, and certainly they do not engage in the practice.

So when I say people don't get it...I am saying that in reference to myself, and those in my world....not yours.

I get what you're saying and I respect the general sentiment, but I think you're going a little too far. So every traumatizing experience is, in fact, a positive experience in disguise, because escaping from it reaffirms life? Does rape not count as a "bad" experience? Do the experiences which incur PTSD not count as "bad?"

Of course, I doubt you've had a trip as traumatic as being raped. But, no doubt, some people have. Are those experiences good experiences?

Bad trips do exist, they just don't exist for you (maybe, and that's a strong maybe). If it was truly not possible for a bad trip to exist for you, I'd say we should be able to extrapolate that no bad experiences exist for you, because the way that we process events is entirely dependent upon our minds, and apparently your mind is incapable of insurmountable trauma. I find this hard to believe, but if it's true, good for you.

Edit: I also think it's a bit condescending to tell someone that he just "doesn't get it" for having trouble integrating difficult experiences. All of this seems a little sanctimonious, especially given the kinds of lessons we tend to learn on psychedelics about openmindedness and forgoing unnecessary negative judgments

 

[ComfortablyNumb95]

Went too far last time I used LSD. Dumbass kid dosed me with ~1.5mg.)

you mean 1.5 milligrams LSD? 0.o

 

[Topmid]

i had a bad trip on 1 hit of acid that completely changed me. i had trip a few times prior and they were all great. 2 weeks prior i used mda 3 days in a row and on the 3rd day mixed it with 2 hits of acid. complete waste and had brain zaps and mad depression for a couple days. next week tripped on 2 hits of acid and had an amazing time. next week take one hit. first 12 hours were bliss. then when i thought i had come down, i noticed that i wasn't really even close to "myself." this frightened me and sent me into a panic attack that last 12 hours. i thought if i went to sleep i would die or end up in a mental hospital. my thoughts were looping infinitely and every single one was negative as fuck. my mom had to take care of me. she didn't leave my sight the entire time. except for 5 minutes and i convinced myself she killed herself. i eventually fell asleep and woke up a completely new person. that trip left me with an extreme appreciation for life and i learned a lot about myself. it was very scary though. i didn't touch any substances including cigarettes for a couple months after that...