How bad trips can also turn out positively

The message below is taken from Motherboard.vice.com and concerns not only magic mushrooms/truffles but also other hallucinogenic substances that carry higher risks.

Psychedelics are finally becoming more accepted by the medical world, but it is important that we know more about the risks before we start using them.

A
psilocybin group (the main active ingredient in magic mushrooms)
researchers at Johns Hopkins University conducted a survey among
approximately 2,000 people. They looked at the anecdotes regarding "bad trips" to
to gain more insight into the lasting positive and negative consequences
of drugs that have bad reactions. A large proportion of the respondents
said that a heavy mushroom trip is among the ten biggest
challenges they once faced, but at the same time also the
most "meaningful" experiences of their lives.

Entheogens
such as psilocybin, MDMA (XTC), LSD and ayahuasca are receiving more and more
positive attention due to the psychological benefits of
treating addictions and PTSD, or even improving the
general well-being. But a whole lot of these reported
therapeutic effects take place in a clinical setting, under
supervision by experts. Outside this environment, it may look more like
the Wild West.

10.7 percent of the 1,993 people who participated in
the 45-minute survey told themselves or others in physical
to have put in danger. Furthermore, 2.6 percent behaved according to their own
say violent or aggressive, and another 2.7 percent tell
to have sought medical help. Five of the respondents who for
use pre-existing fears, depression, or suicidal
had thoughts, said they had attempted suicide during the
trip. According to researchers, the latter indicates that a safe
environment and a positive psychological attitude are needed before you
is going to trip.

On the other hand, six people said that the suicidal
thoughts disappeared after their worst trip. That ties in well with the
studies by John Hopkins that the antidepressant effects of
Demonstrating psilocybin for cancer patients.

"Psilocybin can cause
for life-changing experiences. [Respondents] stay for months.
holding on to positive changes in their traits, mood and
"behavior as a result of the experience," says Dr. Roland Griffiths,
psychopharmacologist and professor of psychiatry, behavioral sciences and
neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University to Motherboard.

But
Griffiths and other researchers wanted to investigate the effect of tripping outside
to better understand the clinic. Psychedelics were originally
associated with excessive use during anti-establishment and
anti-war protests by hippies in the 1960s. That caused a
big misunderstanding about the risks of these substances, he said
Griffiths.

After the government retaliated, the investigation ended up
to psychedelics in the fridge for a number of decades. During that time
scientists developed safety methods and procedures for
safe use. "We now know that the research can be done, but
It remained unclear to us over the past ten years what we could do.
to all those bad experiences.""

Some respondents had a
Still suffering from the long-term effects several months after a bad trip.
Anxiety and depression were the most common effects.
It boils down to the fact that there are a number of risks associated with the use.
of these means. It is important that people not only the
reading positive messages and thinking that it is something that everyone would
"must do," says Griffiths. "The key is these results in
placing in perspective, paying neither too much nor too little attention to
the negative aspects.""

But psychotherapist Neal Goldsmith, author of Psychedelic Healing,
warns against the use of terms such as a "bad trip," even for
potential depressive experiences. "I use the expression difficult
trip or experience. The trips are sometimes difficult or challenging,
but after processing, they usually turn out to be the valuable experiences as well.
in a lifetime," says Goldsmith. (That being said, it remains
of course unwise to trip if you have a full family history
have mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.)

It
processing the trip, whether it was a difficult one or not, is according to
Goldsmith part of something he calls "integration". Psychedelic
Integration is not part of the trip itself, but should be the natural part
be of the experience after the trip. "During the integration, you have to
benefits, insights, or clarity that psychedelics provide,
"turn it into a change in life," he says.