Is it possible to avoid a bad trip on mushrooms? Mushrooms what is a bad trip?
Fortunately, us amateur microscopists don’t have to worry about such a thing—we just study exotic mushroom spores under our microscopes. However, it’s a real concern for participants of the countless cubensis clinical trials taking place today. We all know that mushrooms have many benefits, but what do you do when you’re having an unpleasant, negative, or emotionally overwhelming special experience? What is a bad trip?
In today’s entry on the Psilocybe Philosophy blog, we’ll examine the advice given by scientists, expert researchers, and other professionals in the field of specials. These are the people who really know what they’re talking about, and you’ll soon see that their methods of avoiding a bad mushroom trip amount to far more than the traditional advice (“just calm down, bro.”).
Jokes aside, here’s a pretty revolutionary concept: what if there is no such thing as a bad trip? It also may be useful to know the best ways to take mushrooms to learn about differences between taking raw, tea, dried, from extracts and more.
There is No Such Thing as a “Bad Trip” According to Scientists From Johns Hopkins University
In a study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, Roland Griffiths—whose name will be familiar to regular readers for his dozens of contributions to the understanding and acceptance of cubensis mushrooms—and his team conducted a survey of nearly 2,000 adults who had experienced a self-described “bad trip” on cubensis. 90% of participants stated that they had used mushrooms at least twice at some point in their lives.
According to the study on ingesting cubensis mushrooms, 62% said that the unpleasant special experience (the “bad trip”) was one of the most difficult psychological experiences of their lives. 11% said that it was the worst psychological experience of their lives. On average, the dosage which produced the undesired experience was approximately 4 grams of mushrooms.
Here’s where it gets interesting—over three quarters of participants, 76% to be precise, said that the so-called “bad trip” had resulted in enhanced life satisfaction and an improved sens eof overall personal well-being. 34% of participants said that the experience was one of the most personally meaningful experiences of their entire lives and a further 31% said that, even though the experience was unpleasant, it ultimately became one of the most spiritually significant events of their entire life.
Are There Any Psilocybin Mushroom Strains That Can Help Avoid a Bad Trip?
Golden Teacher spores are well-known, extremely popular strain of cubensis mushroom. One of its key characteristics is a mild cubensis potency; this can be greatly beneficial for whole-fungi clinical trials which need to provide participants with a more accurate dose. Since the fungi has a lower concentration of mushrooms, introducing too much to a patient’s body is far less likely than with a different, stronger strain.
Preventing a Bad Mushroom Trip With Advice From a Harvard Professor – Understanding “Set and Setting”
In his famous 1964 book The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, Dr. Leary explained in great detail a concept he referred to as “set and setting”. You may have heard of it already if you’ve been at all interested in the topic of specials for some time, as other prominent figures in the space, such as the McKenna brothers and John Allen mushroom information have often referenced the idea in their talks.
The idea of set and setting is this: “set” refers to your mindset and “setting” refers to your surroundings or environment. As you can no doubt imagine, both are very important components to enjoying a pleasant special experience (and, in fact, clinical researchers put a lot of effort into making sure that their patient’s set and setting are ideal).
First, let’s talk about mindset. Before undergoing a special experience, experts suggest ensuring that your mood is positive; that is to say, you’re generally feeling good, you aren’t stressing out or anxious about anything, and that you have no major worries weighing your mind down. Psychedelics can amplify the emotions one already has, so this is very important.
Setting, or the environment where the “trip” is being experienced, is of equal importance. Most experienced practitioners recommend a calm environment, and one that you’re familiar with (such as your home). Low or no lighting, light/easygoing or no music, and a block of time set aside where you aren’t likely to be interrupted are all good components of an appropriate setting. Some cubensis users prefer to have a sober companion (“sitter”) or to only have the special experience with their therapist present.