Should Psychedelics ONLY be done when one is in a good mood?

[HereToLearn]

Hello beautiful beings, 

Many times, it is told that Psychedelics should be done in a positive mood and setting.

But what if, it is not possible? Does that mean than one cannot ever do psychedelics?

[Leo Gura]

If you are rarely in a good mood, get ready for some bad trips.

[Javfly33]

No, the essential ingredients are surrender and expansion.

My best trips has been in difficult moments in my life, but willing to surrender and learn.

[knakoo]

16 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

If you are rarely in a good mood, get ready for some bad trips.

@HereToLearn

I started using psychedelics when I still had a lot of anxiety and depression. Since then I did way over 100 trips and never had a "bad trip", though many trips were difficult. So don't be afraid. Just start low and gradually up the dose. You can also take 5-10 pills of valerian if you start panicking during a trip. That will kill any anxiety and it is a better option than benzos.

By the way it seems that having a very difficult trip can teach you a lot, so use something like valerian only as a last resort. The goal is just to avoid trips that create trauma.

[mivafofa]

I also found that it has more to do with surrendering than positive mood or setting. I remember I was depressed the first time I took some, and was told not take it in that stake, but I did it anyway because I felt I didn't have anything to lose anymore.  I came out of the trip with a new found love for life and massive self-love.  I wondered why I didn't have a bad trip despite being in a bad mood. Then I read a study somewhere that females are less susceptible to have bad trips than men, because by essence they're more naturally prone to surrender.  So when I surrendered and embraced death with open arms, it was a beautiful trip and it healed many mental blocks within me. 

Then I did the mistake of trying to be a guide for someone WHILE tripping myself... which means I had to be responsible and be in control. Needless to say that was a horrendous trip because I wasn't letting go and trying to take control over the psychedelic too much for the sake of the person I was trying to guide. Anyway bad guide I was lol at least the person had a great time. 

[OBEler]

@HereToLearn Actually from my experience definitely no problem starting with bad mood (at least for women). My girlfriend is the best example, she always takes LSD when she is in really depressive, even dark mode. She is the one who should normally never take psychedelics at all: she is easily scared, insecure, was diagnosed with psychosis, has very deep trauma in her, has self destructing behaviour, sometimes maniac episodes, is synesthetic and sees ghosts everyday during normal days. And STILL she handles psychedelica very well, she started doing LSD before two months ago. First 12 micogramm, then many 100 microgram trips and lately 150 micrograms. She tripped over 8 times, has deep ego death experiences almost every time and although LSD was sometimes challenging, she said she always came better out of the trip than before.

I remember one of the trips started really bad, we went into a really heavy fight in the come up phase, she even said she don't want to trip and want to vomit so it can be out of her system but somehow it turned around in a very good trip. So even a bad beginning doesn't matter. Just go with the flow.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by OBEler

[Superfluo]

@Leo Gura What if a good mood is a façade you have fooled yourself with? For example, you have a light mood but that mood covers deeply a bad mood that you're not aware of?

[BipolarGrowth]

On a purely chemical and scientific basis, you’re going to see anti depressive effects. I might not be here to type this message to you if it was not for times when I used psychedelics in deep depressive episodes. They were the most effective thing I had found to help at the time. I had the proper foundation of consciousness work and understanding to allow me to avoid or handle bad trips quite well. 

[RMQualtrough]

I have anxiety disorder. I have found in myself, LSD suppresses anxiety and causes dissociative effects. 4-AcO-DMT and 4-HO-MET caused a similarish inability to feel good/bad emotions at all, I could not tell if I was enjoying the trips or not.

DMT on the other hand often gave me nightmare tier trips.

Salvia I'm good with...

Chemical roulette.

[BipolarGrowth]

2 minutes ago, RMQualtrough said:

I have anxiety disorder. I have found in myself, LSD suppresses anxiety and causes dissociative effects. 4-AcO-DMT and 4-HO-MET caused a similarish inability to feel good/bad emotions at all, I could not tell if I was enjoying the trips or not.

DMT on the other hand often gave me nightmare tier trips.

Salvia I'm good with...

Chemical roulette.

That’s so odd that salvia of everything was what you were good with for anxiety

[Leo Gura]

After you have one proper BAD trip, you will never take psychedelics in a bad mood again.

[Intraplanetary]

I intuitively don't trip when feeling down/bad about myself. It just doesn't feel right to trip during such times.

My trips usually are well planned to enhance and deepen my regular life experience. For example, I would trip after a meditation retreat, a fast or when I'm doing something about my life that improves it and then use a trip almost like a reward. I then feel good and uplifted about tripping because I know I'll be more positive during a trip and able to surrender.

On the other hand, when my life generally sucks,l I don't want to trip at all. 

However, for people who always feel down, perhaps have depression, I would suggest taking very small doses or/ experimenting with micro-dosing. 

 

 

[knakoo]

58 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

After you have one proper BAD trip, you will never take psychedelics in a bad mood again.

So your advice to someone with depression is to never try psychedelics ?

What would be your recommendation for someone in that situation ? Doing it with a trip sitter seems like a good idea for instance.

Also I am curious, if I never had a proper BAD trip in 100+ trips, could it mean I am overly prudent with the dosage ? 

[4201]

IME, the only condition to making a trip go well is not thinking it will go bad. If you believe the idea that bad mood = bad trip you might bad trip out of this belief but it won't because of the bad mood, only because of the belief.

In practice there's no benefit to challenging yourself and tripping in the worse conditions ever. As long as you have a clear constructive intention and you are in a good setting, it will likely be a good experience. Even if you end up not judging it a "good" experience, there is stuff to learn on why you thought it was "bad".

[Carl-Richard]

Mood is one thing. It's possible to be in a relatively good mood while ignoring the fact that you life is shit (by doing drugs for example). Psychedelics will shove that right in your face.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Carl-Richard

[4201]

15 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

fact that you life is shit

Not a fact though, an opinion 

[Carl-Richard]

32 minutes ago, 4201 said:

Not a fact though, an opinion 

...and that's your opinion

[VeganAwake]

There is no answer

[EntheogenTruthSeeker]

I personally surrender no matter what state I am in. I have been suicidal before and been brought to complete deliverance from wanting to kill myself. very powerful stuff if you trust the father and pray to Jesus before if you please

[4201]

3 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

...and that's your opinion

No, what it means for something to be an opinion and what it means for something to be a fact is well defined in the english language. You can deconstruct language and what it means for something to be objective but it wouldn't make "my life is shit" any more factual.

My initial point is that it's not only a POV but it's a terrible one to have. No matter where you are in life, judging your life as shit is the opposite of making it better. Taking drugs can be a distraction from making it better but this is only true in a context where it is assumed the life is shit to begin with.