Introverted vs. Extroverted with regards to LSD comedown

[Godsmacker]

Recently, I have been noticing a rather odd trend among my friends who consume psychedelics IRL. After consumption of LSD, I notice that I am fried and am unable to do anything other than chill, listen to music and otherwise take life slow and easy as I recover and re-energize my messed up mind for a day or two after doing LSD. I find that being around others is extremely tiring (more so than usual) and that being around them drains my energy more so than usual. I like to be alone after an LSD trip so as to recover my self and thoughts and integrate my lessons alone.

Another friend of mine, who is very extroverted by nature, doesn't seem to be as fried after consuming LSD. In fact, after waking up after a day of dosing, she is even more inclined to socialize with others than usual. While interacting with others during a period I would consider to be extraordinarily antisocial for me, she seems to flow with heightened energy, more involved in conversation and more energized than before (or sometimes during) the trip itself. She has told me that if she isolates herself from the world the day after doing acid (as I need to do in order to regain my soul), she feels very weak and fried. It's the opposite of what I (along with many of my introverted friends) experience with acid. Instead of recharging by one's self, this extrovert actually becomes extremely energized from being around others and feels fried when left alone afterward. She does not show any visible signs of fatigue when socializing the day after acid, but instead only looks fried when left alone after doing acid.

I was wondering if anyone else on the forum has observed this peculiar difference between introverts and extroverts when they come out of the LSD trip and wake up after a brief rest. I would hypothesize that, whereas introverts gain energy from being alone, extroverts gain energy from being around others. LSD depletes one of energy due to the intensity of experience, and, in my own experience, renders me incapable of most sustained social interaction and leaves me fried and foggy for a couple days afterward as I integrate the experience. Due to this depletion of energy, one would seek to replenish it. As an introvert, I gain energy from being alone; an extrovert would gain energy from being around others and living externally. I would appreciate any subjective experiences with this phenomenon and am curious to know if this is a common difference between introverts and extroverts.

Thanks,
-Godsmacker

 

[universecannon]

For me it just depends on the type of experience it turned out to be that trip. I've had some profound experiences that had me glowing with energy the next day and long afterwords, sometimes feeling very sociable. Then some other experiences have been the opposite, even if they weren't necessarily rough trips.

 

[voyaj]

I've noticed this on all psychedelics for myself. I would say that I am more of an introvert, inner-thinking & personal. I'm definitely not a Type A personality, but I am very social-able. That said, most of my friends are type A personalities and I have done psychedelics with them and I find that they create distractions, to a degree where I remain in control of the experience due to the distraction. I've noticed some of my friends are fine and grow more and more energetic through the experience by being very outgoing, while the control needed for myself to remain distracted by the distraction they are creating in the experience seems deplete my own energy over time, to the point that I recoil from being social for the evening and not necessarily in the greatest way. This has been true on shrooms, mescaline & LSD.

Though in a white circle ayahuasca ceremony where everyone was to remain quite, but many people were around (and music non-stop) I felt absolute distrust in everyone in the room and sort of sank into a very fun and insane 4D hell realm due to this. Really, I just wanted it stop and wished I were alone in silence.

I think I much prefer taking psychedelics alone to really let my mind and the substance guide it's own journey unhindered, I wish this wasn't true but I find that people pull the magic out of it for me when all I want is to focus and go deep.

 

[Continuum]

I always considered myself to be introverted, and personality tests have come back to indicate I am INTP, in which the "I" is Introverted.

However, recently I've come to question whether it was truly introversion or rather social anxiety instead.

Through the use of yoga, breathing, meditation, gardening, and psychedelics, I've come to feel very comfortable in my own skin, something that was never the case before in my 30-something years. Now I feel more whole and like myself that ever before...a paradox considering how differently I feel.

With this internal change, my experience of psychedelics has also changed. I used to be very worn out after a trip, where now I feel energized and everything flows ever more smoothly, particularly my interactions with other people. I typically sleep a few hours after a trip, then go out and about, maybe to the botanical garden or something, before coming home for an afternoon nap. This time is usually bliss, an my brain feels like it's working clearly. There's typically a positive flow of energy with anyone I come across.

It's my assertion that yoga has a lot to do with this change. Besides the internal and social changes, I also don't get much in the way of body load from psychs any more either. Even at 17, 18, 19 years old I used to get tight, with stiffness and back aches from LSD, but now nothing from any psychs I do. Granted, the lysergamides I've been experimenting with are not the same compound, but similar. It's likely just a map of the territory, but it seems like breaking open the body allows the energy of the molecules to flow freely.

I think I'll give another personality test a go, and see if the results are the same...

 

[tseuq]

I also don't get much in the way of body load from psychs any more either. Even at 17, 18, 19 years old I used to get tight, with stiffness and back aches from LSD, but now nothing from any psychs I do.

The bodysymptoms (tension) you describe sound like the results of an anxiety (or you were freezing).

However, recently I've come to question whether it was truly introversion or rather social anxiety instead.

To difference between those concepts:
i) Someone who behaves introverted feels comfortable when together with others, that means s/he can relax, concentrate on the talk and has a good time, but doesn't feel the need to talk about every single thought, like chatting. The person is engaged in what ever happens in the moment, can freely shift her/his attention, behaves natural and feels relaxed and happy.
ii) Someone who behaves social anxious can not relax when together with others, s/he is focused on personal concerns (f.e. I can do something wrong and others will reject me.) and how to avoid them (f.e. Thus, I don't say my opinion.). The person thinks about its worries and ideas and behaves in social interactions unnatural (driven by the idea to avoid rejection) and feels tensed and careful.


So.. this might be the answer to your question above.

Through the use of yoga, breathing, meditation, gardening, and psychedelics, I've come to feel very comfortable in my own skin, something that was never the case before in my 30-something years. Now I feel more whole and like myself that ever before...a paradox considering how differently I feel.

tseuq

 

[Metanoia]

Being extremely introverted means that I simply cannot be around people when recovering from a trip. I know exactly what you mean Godsmacker; it is incredibly draining and absolutely exhausting for me. This is actually true most of the time, depending on who I spend my time with. I consider myself to be overly sensitive to the emotional states of those around me and it can be pretty difficult to separate from it a lot of the time. This does extend across all long-lasting psychedelics as well, not just LSD or tryptamines or one specific class.

I have personally experienced what you described with an ex-girlfriend I used to trip with when I was younger. She would want to go out and do all these social activities the day after, when all I wanted to do was curl up with a blanket in a quiet room, eat some fruit, read some philosophy or something. Very chill. She would get restless and in a negative mood/mindset when she sat around with me the next day and didn't get out and socialize. She was my polar opposite and that's what worked for us for quite a while; our personalities complimented each other's nicely. But after a deep mushroom or LSD trip, whew, she was so ridiculously tiring for me that I started to make excuses so I wouldn't have to trip with her any more :lol: She was an incredibly fun and wonderful woman to be around, just not after a trip for someone like me. So I would definitely agree that personality types have a heavy influence on what feels right post-trip.

I'm very similar to Continuum, having the INFP personality type. When I first took the test I was laughing so hard because it describes me so perfectly. I've taken it a few times to see if I got different results but apparently I fit this type perfectly. Then I look at a page like this and it lists a slew of my favorite people, I knew the test was absolutely accurate.
Famous INFPs

John Lennon, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain!? Exactly! All those authors as well...these are my people! :lol: Identifying with these people is effortless for me, because we're so much alike. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum it's just way harder to find that common ground. Not impossible, I'm a very easy-going person and I think I can get along with pretty much anyone. It just takes a lot more energy being around people who are extroverted and high-energy in social situations. I need my quiet/personal time because after a while I become drained, moody, and just generally unpleasant :lol:

I have suffered from some social anxiety but I would agree with tseuq in his definition of the difference between simply being introverted and experiencing social anxiety. I am almost always comfortable in social situations with people, but on the periphery, more as an observer. I will participate in conversations, but I only speak when I have something to say. I'm the opposite of a motor-mouth, that verbal diarrhea you sometimes get from extreme extroverts :lol:

Then you read some of my posts and wonder how that could possibly be true :lol: I'm far more comfortable communicating with written language than spoken. I am a person that needs to have a journal to write in everyday. I need to sit and write stories and ideas down, but more than that, I love sharing it with others.

I really want to second the notion about yoga having a huge effect on bodyload as this is something I've noticed myself as well. I never had any bodyload from LSD when I was younger. Then I did it in my early twenties and I had a really difficult experience, almost no visuals, just pure agony all over my body...neck, legs, even my arms were tense and cramped feeling. This trip was taken at the height of my problems with anxiety, go figure :lol: After coming back to it just recently, having taken up yoga a few years ago, absolutely no bodyload whatsoever. I noticed this with LSA seeds as well. My thinking is with something like a lysergic especially...it's so electric and it courses through your body with such power...if you have an anxiety or an energy blockage type of deal anywhere on your body, you're definitely going to feel it during a trip like that. Yoga helps to open all the channels up and lets things flow naturally.

 

[Swarupa]

I'm generally quite introverted and have experienced both becoming more introverted and at other times more extroverted after an LSD experience, i'm not sure what makes the difference but i don't think it's a case of one or the other. I feel i've actually become more extroverted through using LSD, maybe because i was so introverted before and that's just what i needed.

Regardless of whether i've taken LSD, in large social groups i often find myself quite detached and can feel drained even without expending much physical energy, whereas others seem to thrive on that social energy. If that's your personality then i'd guess that it's much the same after an LSD trip so your observations make sense, although i can see how an introverted person could become more outgoing afterwards, and vice-versa.