How To Avoid A Bad Trip With Magic Truffles

Knowing how to deal with feelings of fear and anxiety when tripping is key to having a good time. In fact, learning to confront them in the first place is even better. Everyone who trips has moments when things could turn sour, and learning techniques to stay calm and let the madness pass will put you in good stead, and keep a bad trip at bay.

The ominous bad trip. We’ve all heard horror stories of people going mad and trying to rip their skin off, and we all wonder if we’ll be next.

The good news is, these stories are blown way out of proportion, often propelled by a biased and, let’s face it, archaic anti-drug agenda. That’s not to say bad trips don’t exist, but you shouldn’t fear them. They are relatively rare, and often less bad than you might imagine.

Nevertheless, knowledge is power. Learning about bad trips, and how to avoid them, is the easiest way to put your mind at rest and alleviate feelings of anxiety both before and during experiences with psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs. So read on and arm yourself against the tricks of your own mind.

What Is a Bad Trip?

A bad trip is largely defined by a sense of fear or anxiety that is ever-present and invasive. It can range in degree from a few uncomfortable hours wishing you were less high, to a full-blown panic attack and a truly horrible experience.

It is possible to have bad experiences on all drugs, but bad trips are most strongly associated with psychedelic drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms. Bad trips on psychedelics tend to involve a pervasive fear that doesn’t exist when using other drugs.

However, anti-drug propaganda has managed to create a sense of doom surrounding bad trips that has acted as a self-fulfilling prophecy; one of the surest ways to catalyse a bad trip is to fear having one.

Though, with a few precautions and a bit of self-reflection, bad trips can be mitigated.

Signs of a Bad Trip

The trippy contents of a bad trip may vary, but they all share a few similar traits:

• Persistent fear and anxiety

• Confused or looping thoughts

• Delusional beliefs

• A sense it may never end

• A sense of feeling trapped

It sounds bad, and it can be. That being said, by learning some very simple techniques—techniques that are equally applicable in normal life—you’ll find that these problems should not occur.

What Causes a Bad Trip?

All sorts of things can trigger a bad trip on hallucinogens. Some of the most common are:

• Bad mental state

• Expectation of a bad trip

• Being with people you are not comfortable with

• Being in a place where you are not comfortable

• Something bad happening during the trip

• Taking too high a dose

• Mixing substances

• Resistance to bad feelings (more on this shortly)

Are Beginners More at Risk of a Bad Trip?

Yes and no. Beginners are certainly more likely to feel uncomfortable when tripping, as it will be such a novel feeling. Moreover, by not knowing what to expect, beginners are more likely to choose a bad environment, the wrong people, or take too much. So they are more likely to do things that may trigger a bad trip.

On the other hand, beginners are also going in fresh and don’t have the weight of expectation upon them. For those who have had one or more bad trips in the past, it can be incredibly difficult to shake the expectation that subsequent trips will also be bad, which in itself can instigate a bad trip.

How Long Does a Bad Trip Last?

A bad trip can last as long as the trip itself, potentially with lingering feelings of discomfort afterward. Rest assured, though, that in almost all cases, once the trip stops, so will the bad feelings.

But it needn’t even take the whole trip for them to go away! It is very possible for a bad trip to pass during the high; all it takes is a bit of acceptance. And if you can learn to get through a potentially bad trip, you’ll find that you can apply this knowledge to all manner of feelings in your everyday life.

How To Stop a Bad Trip on Magic Truffles or Mushrooms

There are a number of ways to help stop a bad psilocybin trip, and none of them are complicated or difficult. But they may require some gentle focus.

Breathing

Breathe. Really, it sounds cliché, but breathing is one of the best ways to get through any bad internal experience. When you panic, your breath and heart rate will rise, and this sets off a chain of physical changes that contribute to feelings of fear and anxiety. In fact, this response is your body getting ready for fight or flight. But you can neither fight nor flee from a truffle trip, and so you have no choice but to accept it.

Breathe into your diaphragm, so your stomach rises on the in-breath. And “lead” with your exhale, instead of your inhale. This technique helps to calm and relieve anxiety. Take pleasure in the feeling of air drawing in and out, and of your heartbeat slowing.

Acceptance

This is the key. Perhaps not just to a bad trip, but to life. And you’re in luck with magic mushrooms or truffles, because if there’s one thing they’re renowned for, it’s instilling a sense of acceptance and being in the present. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to accept feelings of fear or anxiety.

Trying to fight will just cause greater feelings of anxiety, increasing your heartbeat, etc. And as there is nothing to fight, the negative feelings will grow, and a sense of trapped doom can descend. So use your hyper-aware conscious state to embrace the negative feelings. Breathe with them. Focus on them, but without holding onto them. Try to view them with some objectivity. Ask yourself, what is making you afraid? And when you identify it, don’t push it away, just say “okay”, and be with it.

You should find that when you identify and recognise the causes of your feelings, they become much less pressing, and pass of their own accord. The overwhelming sense of fear on psychedelic drugs is usually caused by the terrifying sense of the unknown.

Go for a Walk

Though someone may want to just lie down in the dark, in most cases getting up and moving will yield better results. Engaging in any physical activity (it doesn’t have to be walking) helps to regulate breathing and heartbeat, which in turn regulates feelings of anxiety. Likewise, it is much easier to move past the sense of being trapped if you do something physical—it tells the body and brain that they are doing something about their situation.

Get Some Privacy

Bad trips can often be caused by taking drugs in the wrong environment. A busy city is an example of this. If you find yourself tripping out on the streets and things turn a little sour, take yourself somewhere quiet.

If you can’t get into a house, just find a quiet cafe or a bar and wait things out. Trying to deal with stressed commuters is not the vibe!

Talk About It

Admitting your feelings, to yourself or someone else, can do wonders to get the weight off. This ties in with acceptance. By saying it aloud, you are acknowledging it. If you keep it in, this suggests that you are denying and resisting it—which won’t work.

Eat and Drink

Whether a sugary drink or a refreshing glass of water, having a drink often works to calm someone down.

It’s probably best to stay away from highly caffeinated drinks, as these can increase feelings of anxiety. So stick to your softer drinks, and maybe enjoy the feeling of bubbles.

Eating can really help to soften a trip on mushrooms or truffles. Really, it can bring it down very, very quickly. But trust your gut, as you might bring the food back up very quickly too. Only try to eat if you feel you can. Some people find it very easy; others less so.

Think Twice Before Lighting a Joint

It might feel like a nice joint is the perfect thing to ease you down. However, unless you know this is the case, maybe abstain. Cannabis, as well as being relaxing, can also exacerbate feelings of anxiety. If you’re the kind of person who sometimes feels uncomfortable when smoking weed, this will almost definitely be the case when you’re tripping too.

How To Avoid a Bad Trip on Magic Truffles or Mushrooms

As always, prevention is the best cure, and avoiding a bad trip on psychedelics is easier than getting over one. In fact, if you master getting over a bad trip, the chances of having one in the first place are almost nil anyway.

Make Sure You Want To Do It

If you’re up for an exciting trip, chances are you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not really feeling it, it’s likely to be less good. So ask yourself, why are you doing it? You don’t need a profound answer, just try and make sure you actually want to do it.

That’s not to say you need to be 100% confident about it. Even long-time trippers still get nervous before a psychedelic experience. You’re about to see reality shift around you—of course you’re scared. So don’t worry about those butterflies. However, if you feel a strong sense of resistance to taking truffles (or any psychedelic drug), maybe just don’t. There will be other times.

The Right Place and People

You’d be shocked how alone you can feel when tripping with the wrong people. In fact, it’s much worse than being genuinely alone. Make sure you are with people you really trust, and with whom you are happy to be weird around. Any feelings of discomfort or awkwardness will be thrown into sharp relief once you’re high.

Likewise, if you’re in an unpleasant environment, you’re going to know about it. Every artificial noise and loud car will come to define your existence for a bit, so pick somewhere you can relax and hide away.

Disconnect

Switch your phone off! At worst, being contactable could mean you get some bad news that will be hard to deal with. But this is a worst-case scenario.

Even looking at a screen can be deeply depressing when you’re tripping, and you’d be surprised how going on social media or trying to send a mundane text can send you to a bad place when the world is melting. So just switch them off and focus on the present.

Have a Trip Sitter

Let’s be realistic here; everyone suggests you have a trip sitter, but in most groups of friends, the reality of a sober individual following a load of tripping people about for six hours is unlikely.

So, recognising that, try and have someone experienced with you. If someone knows the stages of a high and can help with dosing, they will help to keep any potentially bad situation under control.

If you can’t do that, simply discuss things with one another beforehand, and make sure you’re all aware of how to act if something goes bad. Discussing it will really help to dispel preconceived fears too.

Should You Worry About Having a Bad Trip on Magic Truffles?

Absolutely not; be excited about having a good one! Your mindset going into a trip is what’s most likely to define it, so try and encourage a positive one. And don’t think you need to trick yourself into believing you will have a perfect experience; it can be much more honest than that. There’s no need to aggressively drive thoughts of a bad trip from your mind (this will be counterproductive)—just recognise they are there, but turn your focus to the positive thoughts, and you should be fine.

Tripping on psilocybin or other psychedelic drugs can be among the most beautiful experiences in your whole life—just embrace it and see what it has to show you.