What is a "Bad" Trip?

[un-known-ome]

Although the title of this thread might indicate otherwise, I have consumed negative trip reports and educated myself on how bad trips happen and when they happen. I've had the opportunity to experiment with various psychedelics now, and my set and setting for those experiences have been rather unremarkable. Some of my experiences have been qualitatively better than others, but have any of them been truly bad? It's hard to say, because none of them have been entirely good either. I have experienced positives and negatives with each experience--psychedelics don't really fit into the category of pleasure-seeking behavior in my experience. For example, after consuming b. caapi and 15 grams of mimosa hostilis tea, I experienced the sensation of dying and was alone and scared for my life. BUT I wouldn't even call that a bad trip. It was rather remarkable and has perhaps been the most profound experience of my life.

Anyway, some individuals report truly harrowing psychedelic experiences that cause psychological trauma on some level, and I'm curious how THAT happens to any individual. My friend and I broached the subject the last time we shroomed. We were mesmerized with the beauty of nature and I personally couldn't imagine having a negative experience. Would I be correct in saying that one has to be in a very dark place prior to his/her trip?

 

[Compound37]

Not necessarily need to be in a very dark place IME un-known-one. I sometimes think it has to do with the fact that the individual may have not been ready for their experience, especially in un-experienced spice users.

However several of my very experienced friends have had negative experiences despite having been in very good mental and emotional well being, they actively practice yoga, meditation, have very stable and loving relationships with awesome partners, various self growth practices, and are generally some of the most positive people I interact with on a regular basis(besides all you Nexians of course )

I agree that numerous times bad experiences can lead to overwhelmingly positive results in reality with time. And that positive and negative experience can mix and meld together in hyperspace events.

However I also believe that good/bad is all a matter of human perspective, and an underlying theme to my DMT trips is that things as well as experiences are not inherently good or bad, but that they just are. As such, I personally believe that every spice trip is just what I need it to be in order to smash my current schemas, views, paradigms, box, and etc. "Good" or "bad" can both lead to amazing growth. If a very focused detachment or objectivity can be held, than these negative experiences can even be much less bothersome to the individual, with amazing potential. I wouldn't ever suggest trying to go that route though, as some have had like you stated in your post harrowing trips that led to short and or long term psychological trauma.

I once had such extremely bad horrible grotesque vile awful experience and remained away from breakthrough trips for a year, and had only three short visits to "candyland' (initial body load entrance level trip without heavy visuals) during that time. Now I am again breaking through, but it took a long time to integrate from that one bad one, the good ones tend to slowly slip away as soon as we get back like grasping at dreams, but the bad ones are hard to forget, I regularly have a nightmare involving one or more components from that particularly nasty experience causing me to wake up in fright.

This is rather rambly, just kind of a jumbled mess of my thoughts regarding bad trips.

 

[d*l*b]

I’m not a fan of the word bad when it comes to the psychedelic experience, but I guess what you call bad I would call “difficult” or “challenging”. The hard to deal with aspects of the experience are, for me at least, usually far more useful than those which are easy or beautiful, therefore I cannot see them as bad.

Many of my challenging experiences have been when I have been in difficult circumstances, and in most of these cases I have actually been shooting for the result I ended up with. I have, however, had many challenging journeys when I have been on an even keel and life has been fine, I believe we have no real control over the nature of the experience we are given, although we can go some way to leading it in a certain direction.

 

[Sky Motion]

I have had only one "bad" trip in my psychedelic career and it was the second time I had ever tripped, and it was on mushrooms.

I had never smoked marijuana while tripping before and somehow though a nice big J would be a good thing, well after eating 2 grams this ramped the intensity ten-fold and my mind went spinning into a time loop. I was scared as hell and would walk to my kitchen to get water then walk back to my bed then walk back to the kitchen to get water than back to my bed again, after 2 or 3 times doing this my brain caught up with it and had the strongest de ja vu of my life, I was tripping to hard to even know if my brain was playing what I did originally on repeat or I was actually walking around that many times (it felt like hundreds, was obviously tripping myself out).

Some people don't like to use the term "bad trip" because in all reality, it ends and you are left feeling better than ever (IME) but at the time, the only word to describe the experience was bad..

That being said I have had trips where it can be horribly difficult, hard to comprehend, and come to realizations that have been too much to bear, but those aren't really bad trips, just tough ones. I feel like there's a distinction to be drawn between sitting in my room fearing for my life and just having a really intense trip.

 

[Eliyahu]

I think the term "bad trip" leaves alot to be desired as well. "Challenging experience" sounds more accurate.

 

[Dethrone]

I have never had an entirely unpleasant trip,but my most challenging ones had me feeling more fear than I thought humanly possible and more love than I thought existed in the universe at different phases of the same trip.

I have had trips that were entirely positive and very enjoyable.

 

[Pup Tentacle]

"Bad trip"... hmmm, probably better to call it what it is, a "Negatively perceived trip"

I've been thinking a lot about this particular topic lately.

Just like "reality", trips are a matter of personal perception. One person's "bad trip" is another's "learning experience" is another's "moment of bliss".

I've listened to accounts of "bad trips" and thought it sounded absolutely marvelous. On the other side of the coin, I've heard descriptions of good trips that sounded awful to me.

I think it's also important to keep in mind that perceptions can change over time with understanding and integration. SO... one person's "bad trip" is the same person's "learning experience" after feeling some understanding of the experience and integrating it.

I personally had a "crappy trip" on mushrooms this past weekend. I was disappointed because I didn't eat enough and spent the evening waiting patiently for the roller coaster to start...it never did. I wasn't terrified, or exceedingly bummed, but I would call it a crappy experience but not as crappy as the shroom trip where I was chased by Satan and rescued by Elvis (yeah, I know).... However, I also have now a set baseline for a minimum mushroom munching when I'm in the comfort of home. So from that standpoint I would say it was good - I learned something. I've also had trips that I would describe as terrifying and informative that lead into bliss and ecstasy.

See where I'm going here? The whole concept is SO subjective and anyone asking the question brings a unique set of circumstances (sets & settings) in with them. Very much like how no two people see color the exact same way.

A trip is a trip. It is one's perception that makes it's good, bad, blissful, scary, or all of the above at the same time.

 

[Felnik]

Fear and panic are the root causes of bad trips.

To me they are quite basic as they relate to dmt specifically .

The first is the absolute alien nature of a dmt experience.
That alone can be terrifying Its off the charts weird and intense. Stunned is a good word.
sometimes it feels like it wants to scare the crap out of us on purpose.
learn to temper your shock and awe and hold steady.

Then the feeling that it will never end and you will be stuck in it forever.
thats the worst one in my opinion. hard to deal with that one.

Not remembering what you did to get there and the sense of perminence of the state is difficult to cope with.


Loss of sense of self , total loss of body.

All bets are off when you descend to the depths with these substances.

learning ways to cope and not panic happen over time with experience.

Even with the best set and setting things can get out of hand It comes with the territory .
One must be prepared for the worst at any point.


Some of the worst trips can turn out to be the most long term life changing events in peoples lives.

some one on nexus said something to the effect that ,
where can you be that terrified and live to tell about it?

 

[Psychonaut In Orbit]

I can count on one hand the amount of trips you could say were "bad" experiences... but I still left those experiences a better person. All of those trips had something in common....cats....lol. Cats seem to have this soul piercing ability when they are in my hyperspace... and that feeling of being truly "naked" from the inside out is startling and jolting every time. These cat entities tend to change their facial expressions at a 1,000 times a minute.. lol but it's tricky because they will pause for like 2-5 seconds (guessing) on one expression that just pierces me every time....they'll then go back into their regular expression changes.... I never feel threatened or anything but when they pause and do that soul-piercing glance it truly stuns me to the core.

Something like this... [YOUTUBE]

x 1000

 

[Ringworm]

A bad trip by my definition is caused by fear/doubt.
It is ok to be afraid or to have personal doubts, you cannot cling to them.

For me this type of thinking is often an issue with things like lsd, where the trip is very long. Getting into a thought loop is sometimes a problem, you just need to remember to breathe, relax and go with the flow. If you start into a negative thought pattern it will spiral and grow without end unless it is released.

For me this is a lesson used in the everyday. Do not cling to something.... it doesn't matter if it is the newest wigit that you desire, or if it is a serious problem, fix what you can and accept what you cannot.

 

[MMPA]

Most people confuse the concept of a "bad" trip with the concept of a "difficult/intense" trip. A trip may have gone eventfully bad in the time you're having it but by the time you've come down and finished, you realize that there was actually a lesson learned or good thinking came about. Happened to me on my first time on shrooms and it was physically and mentally stressing me the whole time but once I came down, that afterglow and thinking about the events made me realize it was an ultimately good and lesson-filled trip.

It's all a matter of interpretation.

 

[Global]

Most people confuse the concept of a "bad" trip with the concept of a "difficult/intense" trip. A trip may have gone eventfully bad in the time you're having it but by the time you've come down and finished, you realize that there was actually a lesson learned or good thinking came about. Happened to me on my first time on shrooms and it was physically and mentally stressing me the whole time but once I came down, that afterglow and thinking about the events made me realize it was an ultimately good and lesson-filled trip.

It's all a matter of interpretation.

I had a similar experience with my first shrooms trip. Of course it's easy to reflect fondly on it and not call it bad when you're not in the throws of the most difficult part.

 

[DMT1133]

"BAD" trips. I don't even know where to start with this. First Id like to say I think this word connected with trips has givin' psychedelic a rotten outlook that people eschew from it! 2ND thing, when you ask a person "what made your trip so bad"?, Most of the time I hear. "It made me think about a lot of crazy shit and life" to me this indicates that this person and there intentions of taking this sacrament was not expecting to deal with ones inner self, so its not the trip its them and them not wanting to deal with whatever is inclosed in the real world there subconscious!

 

[Purges]

Once in a while you get your inner strength tested, sometimes you get your behind handed to you on a jewelled, self dribbling platter. I guess this is what people term a "bad trip"....