Bad Trip
Bad trips (also known as a psychedelic crisis) are talked about a lot when discussing psychedelics, and to a lesser extent dissociatives and deliriants.[71] It is pretty much something everyone thinks, at one point, before taking a psychedelic substance: “I don’t want to have a bad trip”. But what exactly is a ‘bad trip’? It is generally a disturbing experience that can include serious negative effects, such as panic, paranoia, psychosis, feeling of impending doom, frightful visualizations, states of unrelieved terror or even the unshakeable sense of one's inevitable and imminent personal demise.[6][70][71] It is different than just having a tough part of a trip. Although there seems to be a wide range from panic to impending doom, everyone's negative experiences will be different. In serious cases acute psychotic episodes may occur, including severe paranoia, total loss of reality, and scary hallucinations.[70] Generally this is the main reason that users have issues or worse case would visit the emergency room.[70] A bad or stressful trip can be followed by faintness, sadness, or depression which can last for days or weeks.[70] Improper preparation, too high of a dose, poor set/setting can all increase your chances of having a bad trip. There also is evidence that mixing psychedelics with other substances can increase your chance of anxiety, especially stimulants or cannabis.[6][70] Self care practices and proper preparation can help completely prevent bad trips and/or help recover from one when it does occur.
Some people, including many psychedelic specialists in the therapeutic community, do not necessarily consider unpleasant experiences,”bad trips”, as dangerous or even negative, focusing instead on the potential of resolving the issues/experience to benefit the user.[71]