Psychedelics for Mental Health Tx

[Jeremy]

So how does a 'bad trip' work?

One of the major risks of this type of treatment for those with mental health conditions (clinical level meaning severity is higher than what you see in the general population) is that when this gate opens and whole lot of 'stuffs' comes pouring out. You would need to be able to help someone to manage this level of discomfort bc the reason why they closed up is due to being overwhelmed and incapacitated by their 'trauma' or emotions or whatnot. There are methods to deal with that (altho I am not sure what these researchers are doing to ensure someone doesn't get too deep, too fast).

When you are using psychedelics, is there a way you make sure you prevent 'bad trips'? Jeremy shared the possible effects of using substances such as alcohol w/ LSD - so that is one important point- no mixing. Any other ways to ensure a kind of 'safety'?

The only possibility I would propose would be to have an injectable sedative like Ativan on hand because after experiencing my first panic attack long ago, I realized that the one bad trip I had, which was off of shrooms, is basically an intense panic attack. The difference is that due to the intensity of the trip, I was unable to pull myself out of it so I experienced the most intense panic attack I have ever had for 4 hours.

The event was so traumatic for the 3 of us, we actually went drug free for the next school year. Then we discovered MDMA and liquid LSD and it was on from there for the coulple years lol.