What to Do if You Have a Bad Trip

Hallucinogens are a class of drugs that alter your sensory perceptions, cause mood changes, and lead to visual or auditory hallucinations. Examples of hallucinogens or psychedelics include psilocybin mushrooms (shrooms), LSD (acid), dimethyltryptamine (DMT), salvia, and more. While some people enjoy psychedelic drugs, using them comes with risks.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), about 7.4 million people in the United States use hallucinogenic drugs.[1]

In addition to hallucinations and mood changes, you can experience an increased heart rate, feelings of anxiety, panic attacks, and even symptoms of psychosis. When hallucinogenic drugs cause negative effects, people refer to it as having a “bad trip.”

If you are experiencing a bad trip, there are ways to cope. It’s important to stay hydrated and avoid self-medicating with other drugs like alcohol, cannabis, or benzodiazepines. Using another mind-altering drug will only intensify the symptoms you are already dealing with.

In addition, you should talk with a friend or loved one about how you are feeling and use healthy coping mechanisms to calm yourself down. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency while under the influence of a psychedelic, you should seek professional help.

What is a Bad Trip?

If you’re considering taking a drug like LSD or magic mushrooms, you might be hoping to have an enlightening or spiritual experience. While some people have these effects, it is always possible to have frightening and anxiety-inducing experiences. This is known as having a “bad trip.”

You are more likely to have a bad trip if you take high doses of hallucinogens, consume them when you are in a negative emotional state or an unsafe environment, mix them with other substances, or have an underlying mental health disorder. Even conditions like anxiety or depression can put you at a higher risk of having negative effects from psychedelics.

The symptoms of bad trips vary from person to person, however, it’s common to experience:

• The sensation that time is standing still
• Memories or flashbacks of traumatic events
• Increased symptoms of a mental health condition
• Frightening visual and auditory hallucinations
• Delusional thinking, paranoia, and psychosis
• Feeling like the world is going to end
• Panic attacks and chest pain that make you think you are dying
• Being unable to distinguish fantasy from reality

While the best way to avoid a bad trip is to refrain from taking hallucinogens, sometimes people want to take the risk anyway. If you are going to consume one of these drugs, you should always have a sober person with you to support you and be present enough to call 911 if an emergency occurs.

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How to Cope With a Bad Trip

Bad trips are challenging experiences that can feel never-ending while they are occurring. While the effects of hallucinogens are usually not life-threatening, they can lead to dangerous situations. For example, some people experience delusions that they can fly, causing them to take fatal risks.

If you are having a bad trip, you need to know how to calm yourself so you can get through it. The most important thing to remember is that your symptoms will fade away once the drug wears off.

When coping with a negative psychedelic experience, you should:

Stay Hydrated

If your bad trip is causing physical symptoms like nausea, sometimes, drinking water can relieve your symptoms. You should avoid chugging water as this will only make you more likely to vomit. Instead, take slow slips until you begin to feel better.

Talk About How You Are Feeling

Bad trips can cause intense psychological symptoms that are difficult to cope with. Instead of trying to white-knuckle your way through it, talk about what you are dealing with to a loved one. Opening up about feelings of anxiety, memories of trauma, or frightening hallucinations will give your friend or family member the chance to support you and help you overcome the situation at hand.

Avoid Self-Medicating

If you are experiencing intense symptoms, you might think that drinking alcohol, smoking weed, or taking benzodiazepines will lessen your feelings of panic and anxiety. While this might work when you are sober, taking additional substances when you are on a psychedelic can intensify your symptoms.

The only time you should be taking a substance to lessen the symptoms of a bad trip is if a medical professional has given it to you for that reason. Specific drugs might lessen the negative symptoms you are experiencing. You can reach out to emergency medical professionals to treat a severe response to hallucinogenic drugs.

Use Coping Mechanisms

When you are dealing with negative emotional symptoms during a bad drug trip, you should use healthy coping mechanisms to soothe yourself.

Examples of emotional regulation and coping techniques to use during a bad trip include:

• Grounding techniques like focusing on 5 things you see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste (the 54321 method)
• Use breathing exercises to regulate your body and mind
• Listen to soothing music
• Take a warm bath
• Meditate
• Find things to distract yourself, like calm TV shows or a puzzle
• Reach out to a loved one for support

Seek Professional Help

If coping mechanisms are not working, or your symptoms are intense or severe, you should reach out for professional help. You can call your therapist, 911, or some form of mental health emergency service.

Once the bad trip is over, it might be time to evaluate your relationship with hallucinogens. If you abuse them often, an addiction and mental health treatment center like Alamo Behavioral Health can help you achieve long-term sobriety.

Is it Possible to Avoid a Bad Trip?

It is impossible to guarantee that you will have a good trip, however, some planning can minimize the risk of having a bad experience.

When planning a psychedelic trip, you should:

• Reflect on your mindset and determine if you are in the right headspace to use a hallucinogen
• Choose a calm environment where you feel safe
• Avoid taking drugs alone, and always have a sober person there to assist you
• Take a low dose to ensure your side effects are not too intense
• Make a plan for how you will spend your time during the trip, including calming activities
• Avoid going to busy areas where you might panic from being around too many people
• Ensure you have an adequate amount of food and water for the experience
• Make a plan for what you will do in case you do experience a bad trip, like having a loved one on standby or knowing who to call in case of an emergency

While these tips can lessen the risk of a bad trip, the best thing to do is to avoid taking them. If you find that you cannot moderate or stop your hallucinogen abuse, it’s time to seek help for a substance use disorder.

Find Help for Hallucinogen Abuse

If you or a loved one engages in frequent psychedelic drug abuse, it’s time to seek professional help. At Alamo Behavioral Health, we can help you overcome drug addiction and manage any co-occurring mental health issues you may suffer from.

Contact us today for more information on how to get started.

References:

1. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): Psychedelic and Dissociative Drugs