# What is a bad acid trip? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590 "2004-04-17T23:39:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/41 "2004-04-21T21:37:13Z")
Oh, I don’t know…I’ve never had any problems with my innate Monkey-Boyness, so I’ve had some pleasant LSD experiences involving mirrors. Never watched myself on the crapper, tho. It’s impossible to filter out all sensory experiences that may lead you down bad alleyways. Putting Mahler’s Ninth on the box may SEEM like a good idea at the time, but it will most likely send you swirling into a morbid death-obsession. Once I was having a great old time, about four hours in, sitting in my college rooms, waiting for my girlfriend to finish running an errand, and I picked up some pop Astrology book someone had left behind and started riffling through it. My eye lit on a section dealing with marital relationships, and the following line came zapping right up at me in boldface… _Treat your Cancer wife like a queen, and she will treat you royally._ Ooof. Had to go and lie down in a fetal position for about six hours. ---
**Author:** ![Mottpot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Mottpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mottpot)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/42 "2004-04-21T23:03:52Z")
\*\*erislover \*\*, I couldn’t believe it when I read your post. The camera flash thing was one of my favorite things to do and you describe it in a way I have never been able to. That’s exactly what its like! My last experience with LSD involved me sitting in a pitch dark room thinking that I had dropped the acid years ago and had lost my mind and been locked in a tiny black room forever. I couldn’t get myself to move and had thoughts of eternal lonliness and despair running through my head for a good 5 or 6 hours. Not. fun. ---
**Author:** ![cichlidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/43 "2004-04-22T00:37:11Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > You pays your money and you takes your chances. Some people, like **spooje** , never have a bad trip. Others only have bad ones. Most people are somewhere in the middle. At this point in my life, it’s not a risk I’d like to take, because even though the majority of my experiences were good, the bad ones were quite horribly bad. No more of that for me. I agree with this. I see it not only as a chance of a bad trip, but also unknown risks as well. If LSD does not normally cause hallucinations in the classic sense, either I (and friends of mine) was an exception, or there was something mixed in with it. Not something I view as encouraging. Friends from that time, shared similar experiences (hallucinations), though they were not people I’d tried it with. Though my experience wasn’t horrible, I did hallucinate, and did not like the feeling of being unable to make them stop. I knew at the time it was the effects of the drug, but it didn’t provide much comfort, knowing they would go away eventually. I’ll also add, while I was aware of people using LSD as a type of therapy in the past , my discussions with friends on this topic were probably about as far from therapy as one can get. I’m not saying I doubt it happens, and maybe even often, the feelings of enlightenment people describe. My experience however - tunnels in the floor, green trees growing out of everything, talking mice, headless horsemen - seemed to be the “norm” with things my friends described. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/44 "2004-04-22T01:07:53Z")
My second worst trip yurned into an obsessed worry that was ultimately more boring than anything else. I was buzzed and wandering through town, and I seemed to have voluntary control over my own time perception. It seemed to take about an hour to stroll a block end to end, but when I reached the cross street I was able to speed the world back up to normal so I could cross in under ten minutes apparent time. “How lucky it is I can do this”, I thought to myself, “If I wasn’t able to readjust on command, I’d be stuck at the intersection till the end of the trip. I’d just have to stand there. What if I can’t do it next time?” Which I then worried about for the next subjective hour until the next street, and again I thought, “How lucky it is I can do this…” That unpleasant cycle contined until I reached home and waited out the rest of my trip because I was worried I might lose my super time perception at a very inconvenient moment. In retrospect, it was pretty damn smart to go hame and sit it out, if not very adventurous. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/45 "2004-04-22T11:44:24Z")
> [@WILLASS](#): > > Well, this is debatable if you ask me. The after effects of a bad trip could last you a life time if it fucks your head enough but the effects of the LSD may have worn off long ago. I felt wrecked and paranoid for nearly a week after I wound up in hospital and had visual disturbances for about three days but the ‘peak’ lasted about 12 hours. I think after a extremley powerful drug experience you could still describe the trip as ‘bad’ until you feel alright even if the LSD has worn off. Wasn’t there something back in the '60s called STP that induced a 2 or 3 day trip? ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/46 "2004-04-22T12:01:11Z")
I always had the best time when I was just with a circle of close friends, and they were all tripping too. It was especially enjoyable when we were out in the wilderness, away from traffic and strangers. The worst times I had were when I would drop with a couple friends, then we would get spilt up and I would end up in some crowd of straight strangers. The thing I remember most is being able to hear every electric motor whine. You don’t realize how many whining electric motors there are around you until you trip real hard. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/47 "2004-04-22T18:17:10Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#): > > Wasn’t there something back in the '60s called STP that induced a 2 or 3 day trip? AKA [DOM](http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal068.shtml). More like one day. Still one hell of a long trip. ---
**Author:** ![GlendaWitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@GlendaWitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GlendaWitch)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/48 "2004-04-22T19:34:41Z")
Ah yes, the electric motor sounds! I remember going to see a small outdoor concert with 2 other girlfriends one day while tripping. We couldn’t seem to enjoy the music because all we could tune into were the electric generators powering the bands. It was overwhelming. We ended up laying on our backs on the grass, watching the clouds go by, knowing that the generators were what were pulling them along and morphing them into animal shapes. Eveything in the world was somehow powered by generators. We could hear them everywhere. We finally gave up and went to have lunch in a pizza parlor with breathing walls, after a short conversation with a light post. ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/49 "2004-04-22T19:35:57Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > Do not ignore this advice. Whatever you do, don’t look in the mirror. If you catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror, move on. Do not, under any circumstances, stare at yourself in the mirror for a prolonged period of time. > > And this is very important if you don’t want to find out the answer to the question posed in the OP: If, while under the influence of a large dose of LSD-25, you have the uncontrollable urge to deficate and find a bathroom which, while conveniently close, happens to have a full-length mirror on the shower door positioned in such a way so that the occupant of the toilet gets a full, unobstructed view of themselves while sitting on said toilet, do not use that toilet. And if, for some reason beyond your control, you do use said toilet, do not, I repeat, DO NOT stare at your horribly disfigured and unexpectedly hairy and apelike body as it twists and contorts in unexpected, non-Euclidian ways in the throes of waste elimination. > > You have been warned. Damn good point. While I have done it (how can you NOT after a warning like that?) the experience was about as bad as expected. Just freaky really. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/50 "2004-04-23T02:07:38Z")
I’d say the freakiest trip I had was when we went to the county fair. We were doing psilocybin, this was the weirdest stuff I ever saw, it was like a pinkish-orange powder, and we snorted a ton. So we get all buzzed up and head to the fair. All the lights on the carnival rides seemed to come loose and drift off into space like twirling kaleidoscopes. The crazy sounds of the fair would sneak up on you and then race on by in an instant, like standing next to the tracks as a fast train rushed by blowing it’s whistle. We went on all the freaky rides that spin you around and toss you about. The next thing I knew everyone around me turned into playing cards, jacks and queens, kings and aces. I remember my friend looking at me an laughing, like he was seeing the same thing. We found out the next day we were only supposed to do a match-head size snort of that stuff, we all did lines as big as three toothpicks. There always seemed to be a theme song for each trip, the song you hear when you are just getting off really good sticks in your head the whole night. My first time it was, “Bad Moon Rising”, the night of the fair was, “Roll Over Beethoven” by ELO. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590/51 "2004-04-23T02:47:31Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > My best, most educational, most deeply therapeutic and life-changing acid trip was also my worst, most traumatic, most frightening, and potentially most life-destructive trip. > > LSD is not brain-candy; it’s not a “recreational drug” in the sense of being a good thing to use for “fun”. It can be thrilling, and deeply moving, but it is first and foremost _powerful_ and that power can destroy as well as create. > > The second thing to understand is that when people drop acid, they often feel while they are tripping as if life in general their life in particular, all the big question stuff, suddenly makes sense, which is (as you can imagine) very exciting. And then as they come down, less and less of that seems to be something you can hold onto, it ceases to make sense or loses a dimension or something, you cease to see your new “insights” as important or special. > > Some people deal with that by shrugging and dismissing the entire “important insights” stuff as dismissable. (IMHO, they are the ones most likely to get in trouble with acid if they continue to play with it). > > At the opposite extreme, others get serious about it the way some folks get serious about religion or focused meditation – they try to replay the things they experienced when tripping and extract more permanent insights from them. > > I would explain it like this: your mind always tends to use shorthand to represent concepts on one level when thinking about how one concept affects or interacts with another. For instance, if I ask you to think about the relationship of marxism and trendy Italian cooking, and how they each interact with Islam and western medicine, you aren’t going to be simultaneously holding in your head the full philosophical thought-system of marxism and the entirety of the other theories and disciplines – you’re going to conjure up a sort of shorthand token that sort of encapsulates what marxism means to you, in order to visualize it in relationship to the other tokens that represent the other mind-sets you’re thinking about. We do that all the time. When I tossed out those four incongruous examples, _some_ of the things you know about each of them probably came to the fore of your mind (working-class Italian cooks or marxists eating chicken parmesan while discussing politics? dietary restrictions in Islam? relationship between cuisines, dietary restrictions, and what’s healthy for you to eat?) because they were interesting in relationship to the other three. With me so far? > > Well, LSD is the mental connection-maker, and in very short order you can conceptualize stuff for the first time, then “tokenize” that new understanding in order to consider how it fits into other patterns, then “tokenize” that as well. The understandings are (usually) real and (usually) valid, but often that which the tripper understands and is so excited about is understood only in a very compressed shorthand form, a form that takes a lot of unpacking before it could be put into words and explained to someone who hadn’t thought of things in those terms before. > > And as you come down, it is very very easy to lose track of what vast strings of those tokenized shorthand things represent. > Finally: the creation of those “tokens”, by necessity, usually involves seizing upon or creating an oversimplified symbolic thingie that represents a more complicated concept, but the combination of the great excitement of insight & understanding plus the sad fact of losing track of what it was they stood for can cause lots of trippers to attribute the entire importance to the oversimplified symbol. This is as accurate and concise a description of the experience as I’ve ever read-- at least as far as my personal experience. I can specifically remember trying to break down my “realizations” into bite sized, encapsulated chunks that I hoped would work as evocative triggers after I came down. I would break everything into half-baked aphorisms, or slogans or pithy phrases for later. It all made perfect sense while I was up off the ground but when I came back down all those little koans and bits of wisdom that I had written down just seemed like cliched, hippie platitudes…either that or they made no sense at all. I can remember writing stuff like “Every moment is exactly like right now,” or “Trust love.” Embarrassing shite, really…and the thing is, I can remember what I was thinking and my state of mind when I wrote them, they just failed to _evoke_ anymore. I don’t doubt the truth of those insights I just didn’t _feel_ them anymore. They were words on a page. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-bad-acid-trip/240590.md?page=2)