Do bad trips exist?

A bad trip is an intense, often frightening psychedelic experience accompanied by feelings of anxiety, panic, confusion or paranoia. Although it can be perceived as very unpleasant, a bad trip is not necessarily harmful. On the contrary: with the right guidance and integration, even a difficult experience can ultimately prove valuable.

According to Triptherapy a bad trip occurs due to a combination of factors such as:

• A unsafe or chaotic environment

• A unstable mental state (stress, anxiety, depression)

• Inexperience or the lack of a good supervisor

• Impaired neurochemistry, particularly a glutamate level too high in the hippocampus and a deficiency of GABA - this imbalance increases the risk of overstimulation and panic

People with conditions such as borderline, schizophrenia or psychosis sensitivity are also significantly more at risk and are generally advised against using psychedelics.

Triptherapie stresses the importance of good set & setting. That means: ensuring a calm environment, a stable mental state and possibly guidance from an experienced tripsitter or therapist. An important element in preparation is also optimising your neurotransmitters, particularly increasing GABA through diet, supplements and relaxation techniques. This approach significantly lowers the risk of anxiety, which is also confirmed in several forum experiences.

While annoying, a bad trip is usually temporary. According to Triptherapy the brain often recovers on its own after rest and sleep. If unpleasant feelings persist, it is advisable to:

• GABA supplements To be used (in consultation with a doctor)

• To talk to a therapist or take advantage of an integration session at Triptherapie

• Processing the experience through meditation, writing or conversations

On the forum techniques are shared such as breathing exercises, adjusting the music or taking a short break to break the negative pattern.

Triptherapie offers comprehensive post-session support, with structured post-session discussions and integration sessions - also for people who did their session elsewhere. This helps to understand insights and turn an unpleasant experience into personal growth.

Yes, dosage plays a crucial role in the occurrence of a bad trip. 

It is particularly well known that without proper preparation excessive doses, especially for inexperienced users or unaccompanied, significantly increase the likelihood of overwhelming and frightening experiences.

At higher doses (such as trip level 4 or 5), the intensity of hallucinations and loss of ego increases. This can lead to disorientation, loss of control and panic - typical characteristics of a bad trip. Precisely because the sense of "me" can temporarily disappear, this can be perceived as threatening in people with little experience or preparation.

Yes, a bad trip is often a direct confrontation with your own anxiety, inner turmoil or repressed emotions. Many negative psychedelic experiences come from the surfacing of feelings that normally remain repressed.

During a trip, especially at higher doses or when the ego (your self-image) temporarily fades, the psyche can open up for anything normally avoided or ignored. These can be fears about loss of control, death, rejection, past traumas or existential insecurities. What you experience during a bad trip is often a magnified reflection of inner themes already living in your subconscious.

The advantage of it being your own anxiety is that you can learn a lot about yourself and especially learn to deal with your own fears. Good counselling ensures that a negative experience has positive effects on daily functioning.

Your neurochemistry plays a decisive role in the occurrence or prevention of a bad trip. This is because the balance of certain neurotransmitters such as glutamate and GABA has a direct impact on how a psychedelic experience is lived.

Glutamate is the main stimulating neurotransmitter in the brain. Too much glutamate in particularly the hippocampus causes overstimulation, increased vigilance and increased susceptibility to anxiety. During a psychedelic session, this can lead to panic, confusion or paranoia - in other words, the classic hallmarks of a bad trip.

People with naturally elevated glutamate levels are often already prone to anxiety disorders and that psychedelics can temporarily enhance this sensitivity.

GABA, on the other hand, is the main calming neurotransmitter. It helps filter stimuli, dampen stress and maintain calmness in the nervous system. A healthy GABA levels acts as a natural inhibitor of glutamate. So people with GABA deficiency are not only more likely to suffer from anxiety, but also have an increased risk of negative psychedelic experiences.

By increasing GABA with supplements or lifestyle interventions, you can reduce glutamate indirectly. This is why Triptherapie often involves a pre-session neurotransmitter recovery plan, including advice on nutrition, exercise, relaxation and supplements.

In addition to glutamate and GABA, the following may also serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline affect your trip. Psilocybin works in particular through the serotonin system, and imbalances in it can also disrupt mood, perception and inner peace.

We therefore use a holistic intake, which also considers your mental health, medication use and sensitivities to reduce risks such as a bad trip. So at the intake for a psychedelic session, these biochemical factors are explicitly considered.

In short:

The balance between glutamate (accelerating) and GABA (inhibiting) is the neurochemical foundation of how you live a psychedelic experience. When this balance is disturbed, the likelihood of anxiety reactions and negative emotions increases - exactly what typifies a bad trip. By optimising this balance, you can reduce the significantly increase the security and depth of a session.

During a bad trip, you often feel overwhelmed by fear, confusion or panic. The good news: a bad trip is usually temporary and there are concrete steps you can take to calm yourself and soothe the experience. 

These are valuable handles:

1. Change your environment (setting)

A chaotic or unsafe space can intensify a bad trip. Try going to a quiet, familiar place with soft lighting, possibly soothing scents, blankets or soft music. This helps calm the nervous system.

2. Remind yourself that it is temporary

Deliberately repeat: "This will pass. I am safe. My brain is processing something."
These simple affirmations can release you from the fear mindset that you are 'stuck forever'.

3. Focus on your breathing

Slow, deep breathing (e.g. 4 seconds in, 6 seconds out) helps to GABA production stimulate and calm overactive glutamate systems. Some users on the forum report that this was their turning point during a difficult trip.

4. Be supported

If you have a tripsitter or therapist, express what you are feeling. Their calm presence and reassurance can make a huge difference. Is no one with you? Call someone you trust, or turn on an audio message from a familiar voice.

5. Focus your attention consciously

Sometimes it helps to shift your attention from the inner world to something external: feel the texture of a pillow, listen to a soothing playlist or repeat a mantra. Anything that helps to regain a sense of control can soften the experience.

6. Use support tools if it is safe to do so

According to Triptherapie, a GABA supplement or magnesium help with acute agitation, provided you know this is safe with your health or medication.

7. Accept, don't fight

What sounds paradoxical is often most effective: accept that it is uncomfortable. Resistance or wanting to maintain control exacerbates anxiety. Surrender to the process with the intention of feeling rather than fleeing.

Integrating a bad trip requires courage, self-compassion and guidance, but it is precisely these difficult experiences that can contain enormous opportunities for growth if you deal with them in the right way. At Triptherapie, a bad trip is never seen as a "failure", but as a valuable confrontation with something that is calls for attention. The aim of integration is to understand, soften and translate that experience into insights from which you emerge stronger.

1. Recognise the meaning behind the fear

During a bad trip, repressed fears, painful memories or limiting beliefs often surface. Instead of pushing those feelings away, integration helps you look at them from a distance and safety. What was the message? Which part of you came to the fore? IFS (Internal Family Systems) is a powerful method for this: you learn to recognise which inner part was afraid, and how to reassure and integrate that part into your self-image.

2. Give language to the experience

Sometimes a bad trip lingers as a vague, elusive feeling. Talking about it with an experienced counselor or fellow traveller gives you words to what happened. Triptherapie offers a telephone integration conversation after each session in which exactly this happens: you make sense of the experience together. What did you feel? What did you see? What was it really about?

3. Use psychodrama to heal

For those who need deeper processing, there are live integration days with psychodrama and optionally a light psychedelic dose. These sessions help you replay the scene of the bad trip, so to speak, in a safe environment, so that you can rewrite the story with self-compassion and strength. Especially in cases of trauma or intense emotional release, this can be liberating.

4. Put insights into practice

A bad trip often says something about your inner turmoil, stress levels or unprocessed themes. Ask yourself: what do I need to feel safer? What does this part of me really want to say? Adjust your lifestyle, start meditation, breath work or therapeutic counselling. Triptherapie will guide you through this process with a personal lifestyle plan or follow-up programme.

5. See the bad trip as a portal, not a mistake

Maybe it felt frightening or confusing, but the fact that these emotions surfaced means your system was ready to look at them. With the right support, a bad trip can transform into the beginning of a healing process.

Want to process your experience and draw strength from it? If so, you can take part in a integration day with IFS and psychodrama (also for people who have not done a session with us), or take advantage of the free integration talk after a psychedelic session. Either way, you don't have to do it alone and there is always something to be gained from even the most difficult journey.