Hey GC, I've used LSD thirteen times. On the second and eleventh experiences, I had what are are known as 'bad trips'. The first bad trip was on two tabs, and began about 4-5 hours into the trip. The truly bad phase lasted about an hour, which was very disturbing at the time and I felt I'd gone permanently insane. The second bad trip I had was on three tabs, and began about 2 and a half hours into the trip (also about 20 minutes after sharing a giant blunt with accompanying friend/tripper). This bad trip was definitely one of the most horrific and highly intense experiences of my life. It consisted of inescapable fear, anxiety and delusions far beyond the realms of reality. On my thirteenth (most recent) trip, I tried 'candyflipping' for the third time (LSD+MDMA combo). As I dosed LSD a couple of hours before any E, I was tripping for some time before I was also rolling. For some reason, I began feeling anxious in this period, and was worried that I might go into a bad trip. However, when the MDMA began to kick in, it refocused my trip and turned it into a positive one. I guess I'm the sort of person who gets anxious and edgy about things sometimes, and this makes me particularly susceptible to these somewhat negative psychedelic experiences. However, on my second bad trip I discovered a lot about myself and actually came out with a lot of positives. Anyway - enough talk about MY bad trips, I just wanted to share these experiences briefly, and also ask a few questions about bad trips in general. "According to Timothy Leary, a crisis can be a result of wrong set and setting. Leary advised that users of psychedelics be sure that they are comfortable before taking the drugs. Leary claimed that the frequency of difficult trips was highly exaggerated by anecdotes and fabrications in the popular press, and was actually about 1 in 1,000." The above quote is from Wikipedia - Bad trip - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I was surprised to see the statistic of the frequency of bad trips was 1/1000. Is this true? If so, I can't fully understand why 2 and almost 3 of my 13 acid experiences have been bad. On the same wiki article, I read that "The manifestations can range from feelings of vague anxiety and alienation to profoundly disturbing states of unrelieved terror, ultimate entrapment, or cosmic annihilation." - can anyone explain what 'ultimate entrapment' or 'cosmic annihilation' mean in reference to bad trips? Additionally, I'd like anyone to share their 'bad trips'. How do you think they are best avoided? Why do you think they usually occur? (is it simply set and setting?) What do you do to work through a bad trip whilst you are experiencing one? Do you think the likelihood of a bad trip could be heightened by using LSD or shrooms more frequently? Please discuss bad trips! Thanks
I think the "1/1000" number for the occurrence of bad trips is suggestive, not literal. But Leary was right, set (state of mind) and setting (location) play a huge role in determining whether your trip will be blissful or downright terrifying. Psychedelics need to be respected- i.e. not taken in an unfamiliar party setting until you understand the substances. You say you're the type of person that gets anxious and edgy over things at times...if that anxiousness or edginess surfaces during a psychedelic trip it can make things turn sour rather quickly. So try to keep your state of mind clear and positive, and stay in a setting where you'll be comfortable -- where you don't need to worry about authority figures or any other kind of danger. Again, parties are not the location to be using psychedelics, despite what your friends, or even people on this board, may tell you. "Ultimate entrapment" refers to the mindstate that a tripper may fall into during a harrowing experience, in which they think they've gone insane, or will continue tripping forever. When this happens, the best thing to do is to remind yourself that you've only taken a drug, and that it CAN'T last forever. If you've taken all the necessary precautions you're not going to go insane. "Cosmic annihilation" is a new-agey kinda way to say "ego-death." This is the process through which the illusory nature of the ego is shown to you, breaking down boundaries between the Self and the environment around you. There is a loss of control over the trip -- an ego-death experience is all-encompassing, and can't be escaped from by telling yourself that it will all be over soon. It completely takes over your senses. You may feel like you're dying, or that you're dead. They are very scary experiences most of the time, but serve a vital purpose for somebody using psychedelics in a spiritual fashion. You may have feelings of re-birth or regeneration afterwards, and some of the egoic drives that would normally be present in your life will be gone for a period of time. The ego always returns though. An ego-death experience can also cause insanity, if you don't know how to put yourself back together. One of my greatest ego-death experiences occurred on salvia. I was broken into a million tiny little pieces, and watched a red 'mist' ascend from my broken body into the surrounding air. After the process of being broken into pieces (which was quite painful, even during the trip) I was glued back together, although my brain was glued back together in a different fashion than it existed before the trip. It was a classic death-re-birth scenario. I emerged from that trip feeling better than I had ever felt before.
I don't know about that statistic, bad trips are mainly dependant on your mood and setting before/while tripping. And, i'll take a guess at what the ultimate entrapment and cosmic annhilation means, ultimate entrapment I would take as thinking you were stuck in the state of tripping forever and as for cosmic annhilation it kinda sounds like something referring to ego death.
Damn, man. I've never dropped lsd, but I am sort of curious about it. I've done boomers twice. The first time was great. Lots of closed eye visuals, crazy sounding music, yadda yadda The second time was sort of spur of the moment, ate an eighth (my friend later told me they were probably "bad" shrooms), smoked a bowl while I was waiting for it to kick in. When it did, I got really nausious (sp) and ended up passing out while watching static on the TV (couldn't figure out how to turn the cable on haha). Don't really know why I had a bad time, but I ended up yelling nonsense and my friends dragged me to my car and I slept in the back seat of my car for the night. How's that for tripping? I did not know what kind of crazy contraption I was stuffed in I'd love to do boomers again, because there has never been a better "high" than my first trip. I just have to find some good shrooms