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Esoteric [Bad Trip Subthread] How Do You Define "Bad Trip"?

First of all my psychedelic experience is limited to DXM, and Mandrax(I assume, could have been K now I think about it) once by accident. I think that there are three main factors that could be considered to be a bad trip.

Phsyical Effects. i.e crampming, pain. This can be balanced with euphoria on a good trip

Perception of Events. i.e If you start perceiving things as being scary or that people are trying to get you (which they are) this can be a bad trip in that a. You fell scared and anxious or b. You act like a jackass and the consequences suck, get arreste, friends hate you etc.

Mindstate. i.e you get really depressed or paranoid without reason.

In all of these situations my opinion is that you can always be talked down, if you know what you're doing, it's those who know jackshit and do the drugs anyway that fuck themselves up. Harm Reduction!
 
I think people who had never experienced a real panic attack (not being able to breathe, chest pain, 180bp, numbness on the arms, not being able to think straight...) consider it a little thing but actually everything that you will experience before death is being experienced during these attacks. So guys, don't take it so lightly. It doesn't matter if it's from cannabis or LSD or Cocaine, it is fucking life altering.
 
when all of your friends are suddenly yelling at you ridiculing you for weird insecurities that usually dont matter and no one would really know about, people telling you you've even over a sheet of acid and u havent had any water for days and your going to die, people screaming at you for wrecking their tent, thousands of people staring at you, people disgusted with you for eating out of the port a potty, people ridiculing you for tricking everyone into eating rotten meat, everyone you look at seizuring, fat friends with bodies of skeletons..... only to snap out of it and be reassured that everything is fine and you've been sitting there eyes open and non responsive for several hours.... none of it real.... weird shit... and thats a BAD trip. big difference between a "difficult" and "bad" trip if u ask me.
 
I've bad a few difficult tripps on mushrooms

The first time I downed 3.5g's and was right wrecked and loving it for 3 or 4 hours. I started feeling the most brutal tension and confusion and fear, and started spiraling out of control. This was my first negative drug experience ever, and first experience with a drug other than pot, so I hadn't made any preparations for my trip and didn't know how to bring my self out of the experience. I spent the next 4 hours curled up in a ball with my girlfriend talking about tortured drug addicts, Creg Nichols, and how I wanted to quit drugs.

My second bad trip was at a staff xmas party. I was particular reckless that week, and decided I would eat 1g of mush at the party. I figured it wouldn't give me anything but some giddiness and possibly some mild hallucinations - boy was I wrong. I felt as if all 150 or so people were starting at me. I quickly removed my self from the situation and made my way home :\

I realize now that both of these experienceswere negative because of the environment I was in. Advice: it's all about setting!
 
^^^

Mushrooms at staff a party?! Wow, and I thought I was crazy for tripping at CostCo
 
goin to be trying lsd soon, but im a little scared of a bad trip. iv done my research for ages and i feel im ready, but id still like a back-up. would half a pill during a bad trip help with sending you on the right path? Im planning on just acid alone, but id like the pill if things got out of hand. would this work/help?
 
The main thing that causes bad trips for me is physical pain. Usually the pain is just heartburn or indigestion, but it scares me into thinking it's my heart or lungs and that's all I start to think about.

On the other hand, being with the wrong people have also caused bad trips for me. Usually it's a trust issue however; I've been in many situations tripping where it feels like everyone's staring at me, but as long as I trust those people then it's no problem.

However, during my first experience with salvia, I tripped at home with my parents around (which turned into a somewhat bad situation in the end) and for some reason the first thought in my mind was that they had done this to me, like I failed them or did them wrong and now they had control of me. It also felt as if they were laughing at me in a very cocky way even though they weren't. It felt as if the world was on top of an open book and the pages started turning, with various parts of my memory on each page. During the experience I felt like I was at many different places ranging from the house I was born at to the place I live now. Visually, all I remember of the experience was a big colorful ferris wheel spinning while the ground was ripped from under me. The hit I took actually knocked me out and I fell down, then I got up and it felt as if the world was ripping apart from the ground up. I ran outside of my house, but it actually felt like I was forced out, and looked into the sky. I saw a bird in a tree making noises and then my image ripped in half, directly across the bird and I saw some feathers fall out. Then it felt like I was pulled back into my room. I had a song playing that made me feel like it was starting to control the experience. It seemed like the song was repeating just a few seconds during the whole experience. I then felt like I was pulled back outside, but before I made it out I had finally realized that I had smoked salvia and my parents that were standing around with with fixed smiles didn't do it to me after all. I yelled, "Dad, turn the music off!" and as soon as he turned it off, the trip stopped completely. It felt as if something was pushing my face from the side for a few minutes after it was over, though. I then went and took a shower while thinking of what happened. For some reason, I wanted to trip it again, however. Unfortunately, my dad had found the rest of the gram (I smoked a half of a gram of 20x in one big hit in my bong, without water in it) and threw it away. It was a very strange experience, but I wouldn't consider it a 'bad trip.'

A friend of mine who smoked a full gram of 20x at one time in a large bowl now complains of a speech problem that occurred directly after his experience. He doesn't really like to talk about what happened, other than saying, "It hurt really bad.", "Something was controlling me.", and "Everything was laughing at me, making fun of me for what I did." Now he has a slight stutter when he talks that I know he didn't have before the trip. He blames the salvia which I would too, because during my trip I felt as if I had a speech problem as well. I couldn't make out words and everything I tried to say to my parents came out as squeaks and jumbled words. Anyway, just thought I'd throw in my two cents about bad trips and them not necessarily being bad for me as long as complete trust is involved. Peace.
 
there is a difference between a bad trip, and a learning experience. there is a difference between a flat out traumatizing experience, and being humbled.
 
gugglebum said:

When you're dreaming, you don't know you're dreaming. When you're tripping, you do.
Click to expand...

That's not always true. When I smoked salvia extract I did not think I was tripping. Regardless of the fact that I seemed to be in a totally different world, I was completely convinced that this other world was real, which is what made the trip scary. Now, I wouldn't say it was a "bad" trip really, for the reasons you mentioned, but neither was I able to say "Oh, I just smoked some Salvia and I'm tripping." If that was the case I wouldn't have been scared at all.
 
I have never had what I would consider a bad trip. I have had some unpleasant ones where I spent most of the trip crying and feeling really horrible(my first 3 trips were like that).

To me a bad trip would be one that had significant long term negative effects. If it leaves you feeling traumatized for more than a week or causes a psychosis then it is a bad trip. If you just have a scary trip or feel extreme sadness and despair during the trip but feel fine after it is over then it is not a bad trip.

I would also call it a bad trip if you became violent or suicidal during the trip.
 
ChemicalBro said:
...but neither was I able to say "Oh, I just smoked some Salvia and I'm tripping." If that was the case I wouldn't have been scared at all.
Click to expand...

This was also the main problem for me during my salvia trip. After a few minutes, however, I saw my emptied bong and the small bag of salvia extract and I was able to piece back together the fact that I had smoked something and that caused it. What it seemed like, however, was that I put the bong up to my mouth and turned the lighter on, then the experience occured. I don't remember taking a hit or blowing out smoke whatsoever. I really think it's hard to be prepared for a salvia trip. You can tell yourself "this is salvia and I know how it is going to feel" but you'll forget that you thought that as soon as the experience occured. And, like you said, if we were able to recognize it as a drug experience as soon as it starts, there'd be no reason to be scared at all. Peace.
 
I was reading Matt's trip report on heroin (http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=393263)

I searched for other threads started by Matt_Himself and this one came up. I'm pretty sure he would like to add the heroin trip report under a 'bad' trip. hope you feeling better man..

Thought i'd throw my answer into the hat here:
For me the worst trip is ego death, thinking you no longer exist, your self is gone and not being able to assure yourself of it at all. A bad trip i had on LSD i thought my soul was being sucked out of my body to be replaced by something else....
 
A friend of mine always says "the only truly bad trip is one where you wind up physically or legally endangered or harmed as a result." I've never even had a "psychically bad" trip (that is, a trip where I was absolutely overcome with anxiety and/or panic), so I really have no idea. I tend to react so well to psychedelics that I find the whole concept of a bad trip (with the exceptions of possible physical or legal danger, as described above) hard to grasp.
 
Riemann: Have you never had a bad trip on LSD ? Everyone i know has had a bad trip or two who has taken the stuff even if they were in the best setting with the best friends etc...

Otherwise count yourself lucky :D
 
A 'bad trip' for me isn't one that is necessarily difficult, but unenjoyable. If I feel that I didn't accomplish anything during the trip, or it ended up not being as fun as I expected it to be, then that is a bad trip.
 
Neurofall: nope, not once (and I've had quite the number of experiences). LSD has been the honest savior of my life, the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It has never been negative or scary. Some of the psilocin analogues (and psilocin itself) have a twinge of anxiety and a weird not-so-pleasant body load during the come up, so I consider them far less kind and certainly less forgiving if one is prone to anxiety.
 
I would say that I wouldnt consider dark thoughts, poor mood, overthinking a bad trip..to me thats just part of tripping sometimes.

What a bad trip to me is an unshakeable state of fear and panic.
 
Well, being blindsided with serotonin syndrome due to a few minor oversights is not TOO much fun...

Also yes, when you have say a bad acid trip and you're paranoid of EVERYTHING, and you're so fucked up that you even doubt your own previous knowledge that acid is harmless and it's going to be all right.
 
Well what i call a bad trip is driving in your car and then you get a flat, when you get out of the car you see that all 4 are flat..:( Thats bad..
I drive a moter bike now, its worse, no spare.
And no shit.. i went 2 mile one time to get food from a chip shop, and i not taking the piss, the guy behind the counter told me they had no chips!!
Thats bad.
 
^hilarious 8)

my bad turns have been my worst fears realised. living in a painful hell with little comprehension of my surrounding feeling as if each and every move or thought can be bringing me closer to annihilation, feeling as though i am being pulverised, my face and head crushed, my limbs torn asunder, feelings of judgement and futility stuck prisoner inside these skins moving under their own volition throughout eternity and with each turn, choice and event jarring me in their confined and claustrophobic solid cabins and repeating the same thoughts and sensations over and over wondering what shit means to an insane degree, interpreting and reinterpreting loopy thoughts of confusion and mortal fear and no connection with my life, the world or anyone else. the fear that as a trapped sentient being i can see my loved ones trying to contact/revive me without the ability to respond, trying desperately to figure out how to "wake up"
 
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