Yeah I don’t like the framing that bad trips are only bad because the driver chose it to be so. Personally I much prefer the good/challenging/bad framework. For me rough falls under challenging. It’s mentally and emotionally difficult and exhausting and I had to do it without some of my other psychiatric medications (serotonin syndrome sounds like a terrible time) which normally help me steer my thoughts and regulate my emotions. So in that process the roughness was the lack of the brakes and the fact that I was doing it without power steering. It was a marathon not a sprint. And I often didn’t get to pick where I was going, I just got to control my approach to it if that makes sense. Bad trips are to stretch this metaphor too far, when you spin out. It’s hurting without healing. And yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if every bad trip was preventable or able to be made better, but also I’ve got a close friend who was quite experienced and unable to get out of it for a while once he knew it went bad.

It’s changed my mind and benefitted me, but without getting the full therapy and therapist guided form of psychedelics it’s been one of the more effective things I’ve done, but I’m not cured, I’m not over it, and I’m still in the process of healing. Maybe it’s different because I have cptsd, but that’s part of why I take such a nuanced stance. My experiences were nuanced. I’m trying to not be the voice of “it’s perfect”, but rather the voice of “it’s likely to do wonders if you do it right, but it’s a commitment to develop the skills and tools then to dedicate a day to run an emotional marathon using those skills and tools”

As for fearmongering, a good childhood friend of mine dropped acid at a point in his life where he’d probably agree that it was stupid to do, but he was experienced and manic and last we discussed the drug he had no intention to ever touch psychedelics again, several years after the fact. I never asked the other friend what made her stop and decide she didn’t recommend it to new people but that’s what I know, and that it’s not like she went off and became a conservative. As I’ve said, I have had good results. And most people I know who’ve done them have had good to amazing results. I want to do it again and I’d love to do it guided by a specialist, I think it would do wonderful things for me, but it’s not happening anytime soon where I live, and it’ll likely be a serious financial commitment when I can do it, but I do believe it will be worth it. Though right now I’m also curious about magnetic treatment after some conversations I’ve had with other people about it.

I want there to be options because the lack of brakes is something that some people can’t handle or don’t know if they can handle, and I know what it’s like to cry pleading with any deity that’ll listen for a drug to wear off (not psychedelics, I just crossfaded way too hard in college a few times when I was going through shit and didn’t realize it or have healthy coping mechanisms). Even if they become the obvious best tool in our toolbox and I do think they may wind up there, it won’t be something everyone is comfortable trying and I doubt it’ll be the most effective tool for every person. I’m reminded of adhd and how while stimulants are effective for it to a degree that other drugs wish they had, some people for any number of reasons need non-stimulant medication and some are just treated better by it.