Bad trips and magic mushrooms

Bad trips within the psychedelic world are extremely intense personal experiences at the moment. If you don't know how to act, it could easily generate more anxiety, which will only make the situation worse. In this post, we explain the nature of these trips, what to do if you enter a destructive thought loop during the session and what products you can use to try to stop them.

What is it and what can cause a bad mushroom trip?

A hallucinogenic mushroom trip is a very spiritually intense experience, where certain deep thoughts come to light, which if you know how to deal with them correctly, can mean a substantial change to your day-to-day life outside of the session. However, hallucinogenic mushrooms, like all mind-altering substances, are never used to solve internal problems; If these problems exist at the time of consumption, it is most likely that they will come to light magnified and without being able to find an answer.

But as some guy's uncle would say, "With great power comes great responsibility." In the end, what psilocybin does is act on the brain, generating extreme realities (magnified or reduced) about what we think or perceive through the senses. That is, everything that psilocybin can positively generate is controllable and produced by oneself, in the same way, that all negative thoughts, within the session, are produced and controlled by oneself.

It should be noted that a bad mushroom trip is very difficult to happen. Some reasons and preventions will be explained below to mitigate the chances of them happening, but it is a situation that affects a very small percentage of consumers.

The best way to avoid a bad trip is to be aware of when you take psilocybin, where, and with whom.

In no case do we want to put fear in the body when consuming them, since it is a key point when taking 'shrooms; do it without fear and letting the new sensations invade your body, without prejudice.

In all cases, "a bad trip" is the subconscious mind's way of displaying past or present life factors that need to be faced and dealt with, but that the conscious part is not ready for.

It usually starts with dark and disturbing thoughts coming from the subconscious. These thoughts gain strength until they become the existing reality. They become strong and powerful enough to not be able to think about other things and they stay in a loop.

A bad trip is at no time due to a physiological excess of the body towards psilocybin, but a mental reaction (conscious and subconscious) where the traveler is overwhelmed by the situation and negative thoughts. Although a "bad trip" can be intense at the time, it is important to remember that:

• Psilocybin is toxicologically one of the safest substances
• The experience is temporary
• A "bad trip" can be psychologically beneficial in the long run

Some of the most recurring thoughts are usually:

• Fear of staying in that state for life
• Imagine fictitious situations in which everything goes against the consumer
• Modify the existing reality perceiving that the whole world is against you
• Seeing disturbing faces in places where they are not (pareidolia)
• Looping thoughts

Now a couple of scientific facts:

Despite the harshness of the moment, a study on "bad trips" conducted at Johns Hopkins University has shown that 84% of the participants, when interviewed 6 months after the experience, said they had benefited from the "bad trip", even if it was one of the most difficult experiences of their life.

Regarding medical assistance, the risk exists, although it is extremely insignificant. The 2017 Global Drug Survey found that 0.2% (2 in 1,000) of psilocybin mushroom users reported seeking emergency treatment after taking psilocybin mushrooms. This figure was comparatively 1.3% for alcohol and 4.8% for amphetamines. In these data, the little information about psilocybin should be taken into account, that in certain aspects of the trip, there may be sensations where the user is not comfortable and goes to the hospital, but these are completely normal and controllable if you have adequate information.

How to prevent a bad trip?

The most effective way to avoid having bad trips is the one that has been discussed throughout the post: being aware of the personal moment that one is going through and the space in which the trip will take place. This is called SET & SETTING. SET is the personal moment and SETTING is external stimuli, both the space and the company.

It is just as important to be aware of the moment one is going through as well as the company and the place where it will take place.

BE AWARE about:

• The mood and mentality of the person ingesting the substance

• The environment in which the substance is used

• Whether the user is alone or with others

• What experience does the user have with the substance and amount that they want to take?

• Preconceptions and expectations of the user about the experience

If a person wants to experience the sensation of a psychedelic trip for the first time, it is recommended that they prepare an appropriate and safe space, since it can be key to the proper development of the session. A familiar, safe environment without factors that can cause negative thought patterns in the user is usually indicated. Try to avoid potentially noisy, messy, or public environments, the more messy and chaotic the space the more chaotic the experience; at this point, irrelevant people are included (people who sleep in the same house, friends who are not understanding the subject, etc.).

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Finally, try to be completely free of responsibilities during the trip and the next day. The easiest tasks can become extremely difficult, creating stress during the trip. Having a person who is knowledgeable about the subject act as a sober caregiver can be a great help for the smooth running of the session.

Another key point, discussed above, is the amount of psilocybin taken and the user's experience with it (or with psychedelics in general). You must be clear about the appropriate dose for each person, in the same way, that you must know what variety of mushrooms you take.

There can be substantial changes between different varieties. These percentage changes in psilocybin can be very large, as species such as Panaeolus Cyanescens (Copelandia Hawaiian) can have up to four times more psilocybin than others. The Miraculix Psilo-Qtest for psilocybin is the perfect product to analyze the amount of psilocybin contained in the mushrooms that you wish to ingest.

What can I do to stop a bad magic mushroom trip myself?

If you are already on a bad trip, the most important thing is to calm down and turn the external situation around, to see if, by changing the external stimuli, the brain also begins to focus on thoughts that are not self-destructive or dark.

In the previous table, extracted from the same study on bad trips at Johns Hopkins University, the strategies used to try to improve the bad trip are reflected (in the gray bars). And in the crossed-out bars the people for whom the strategy worked. The conclusion that can be drawn is that there is no action that can stop the bad trip, it is rather a sum of all factors.

Change existing reality to change your thoughts

Based on your own experience and also on the research that has been done, there are certain things that usually work:

• Move to a quiet place, with the minimum of external stimuli, or change the existing ones (change the music, go for a walk with a trusted person, etc.)
• Focus on your own body, on your breathing, and be aware of your inhalations and exhalations.
• Depending on the person, physical contact can help.
• Accept the situation. You are in a not-pleasant moment but you can no longer do anything but accept it.
• Trying to communicate with short phrases and simple words, the repetition of phrases that bring us comfort can be of great help.

Is there something external that stops the bad mushroom trip?

Once under the influence of psilocybin, or any other narcotic substance, it is very difficult to get out of it. In fact, it is one of the main reasons why bad trips can appear; when one wants to end the experience before the effects wear off. You must know the hours that the trip lasts and understand that it will go down, it is not eternal.

As with the effects of marijuana or alcohol (to name two of the most common), there is no substance that will make you sober, but there are certain foods that help. Well, the same thing happens with psilocybin. In general, they tend to be certain anti-stress substances, since stress is the maximum cause of this state. Among the most used can be found CBD, lavender supplements, or certain infusions.

Knowing these last points, we have put the Bad Trip Stopper on sale. It includes 6 units of four valerian capsules and two Dextrose tablets, designed to improve the bad state in which one is, relaxing the mind. First, take the capsules and then put the Dextrose tablets in your mouth, which dissolve little by little. Then try to eat something. This will help the body to return to a state of half normality.

Valerian acts as a tranquilizer, reducing stress since it acts as an inhibitor of neurons in the sympathetic nervous system. Dextrose is a simple sugar identical to glucose that is very quickly assimilated, providing extra sugar and energy, as well as mitigating the valerian taste.