Not a psychadelics person?

[Furiouscalf]

Hi there,
A close friend of mine tried LSD for the first time a while back, about 75ug and had a terrible time. They told me that they went through the darkest part of their minds and that they felt so self conscious about everything. They aren't fat, but he looked in the mirror and said he saw himself as fat. He saw his face scarred everywhere and red from acne, but he doesn't really have acne either. He couldn't think at all & talking with his girlfriend was a huge struggle and they had a fight because he was not himself and whenever he tried to think it felt like there was a giant block in his thought process. He had done psychadelics before, 25i and 25c. He really enjoyed the 25i in a concert setting and felt like it was a party. he took 2 1000ug tabs of 25c and had a partial ego death however (became an iphone apparently and felt like if the phone died so would he). He is around a lot of people who really enjoy LSD and seeing them enjoying their trip and laughing and he feels sad that he couldn't enjoy his time and wants to try LSD again but me and all our friends warn him not to and he's really conflicted. Is it possible that his brain just cant handle psychadelics? Thanks!
Furious

 

[Solipsis]

Sounds like you are saying he has had positive experiences with psychedelics before so that kind of disagrees with the idea that he is just not a psychedelics person.

I think he is just relatively unaware of both the influence of set & setting, and the unpredictable nature of psychedelic trips especially when you are still inexperienced. Even more so if you don't realize how minor issues in set & setting can grow to grotesque proportions.

And the 25C was probably overdosed.

It is normal for part of your mindset like insecurities that may be present mostly subconsciously to become a part of your trip. It takes tripping more often and becoming more mature to gain insight and provide positive feedback into the process for both personal development and a more stabilized foundation for tripping.

I don't think it's weird that you jump to the conclusion that tripping just might not be for him, I actually think people might jump to such a conclusion quite often. But it seems more likely there are other reasons that may be subtle to see, and also chaotic influences like the fact that experiences just vary and sometimes you just have a psychologically or physically nasty trip.

Still, tripping is probably not ideal / much more difficult for some types of people. Rather than saying their brains are unfit I think their minds may be unprepared and very resistant. Insisting on staying in control, even frantically trying to... that is probably a terrible starting point. Even for the average person ego softening can feel like having to surrender yourself in order to break free from your mold. It can certainly be called therapeutic if it works out, but it may also be tragic if someone desperately wants to hold on to something / themselves and the inner image they have of themselves and their world.
Some people are just not interested in that kind of therapy or potential for change, maybe because it takes something especially transcendental to even start imagining what it may be like going through it and coming out the other end.
I don't think any of us are in a position to judge that, it is not up to us to say when someone else is ready.

 

[furryfreek]

I'd agree that the bad experience was likely down to set and setting. I think that most of the time, the cause of a bad trip is kind of simple, so tripping again a few weeks later in a different environment could be absolutely fine. Other times though, something more complex underlies it, In which case all you can do is wait a few months/years until your head has sorted itself out.

Now, I've yet to have a bad trip (touch wood) but when I first dabbled with psychedelics, all my experiences were neutral really: mind blowing, but nothing I'd consider either good or bad. It was only after taking a break and jumping back in a few years later that I actually had any "good" trips.

 

[Clocktower]

If he was expecting his LSD trip to be like a 25I trip he may have been surprised by the headspace. I've never used 25I but it has a reputation for being somewhat less mindfucking than LSD is.

Mirrors are notorious for causing problems during LSD trips, at least for the inexperienced. When we look into a mirror we like to see our symmetrical, well-kept selves looking back. However, when you're on LSD nothing looks symmetrical or orderly and a tripper might look into a mirror, forget they're tripping and suddenly become insecure because they think that they actually look like a grotesque, distorted version of themselves.

 

[Furiouscalf]

Thanks for the insight! I'll let him know to take a little break & try again somewhere else. He was at a cabin in the woods with no cell reception so that might have influenced things lol, and yes, the 25C was DEFINITELY overdosed