Making “bad trips” good: How users of psychedelics narratively transform challenging trips into valuable experiences

Summary & key facts

Researchers interviewed 50 Norwegian people who use psychedelic drugs. Almost everyone told stories of frightening or confusing trips. Yet most also said that, when they talked about those trips, the stories turned them into meaningful or even life-changing events. The study suggests that storytelling helps people make sense of scary experiences and keep using psychedelics despite those scares. The findings come from detailed interviews, so they describe these users' meanings and may not apply to all people or settings.

Key facts:

• The study interviewed 50 Norwegian people who use psychedelics to learn how they talk about bad trips.
• Almost all participants reported having frightening experiences while using psychedelics, and many called these experiences "bad trips."
• The main feeling that made a trip "bad" was a sense of losing oneself or feeling like one was going crazy, sometimes described as ego dissolution, which means the usual sense of being a separate self broke down.
• Many participants said bad trips could often be avoided by following certain informal rules used in drug-using subcultures. These rules are a kind of know-how about how to take psychedelics more safely.
• Knowing those rules marked someone as an insider in the drug-using scene. People who lacked that knowledge were sometimes seen as outsiders or blamed for having bad trips.
• Some participants rejected the label "bad trip," saying that such experiences reflected a lack of skill or preparation rather than an inherently bad event.
• Most participants said that telling stories about unpleasant trips helped them turn those events into something valuable. They reported that storytelling gave them deep, sometimes life-changing insights from experiences that were frightening at the time.
• Because the study is based on detailed interviews, it shows how these users make sense of their experiences. It does not prove that bad trips are good or safe for everyone, and the findings come from a specific group in Norway rather than a representative sample.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We study the significance of stories about bad trips among users of psychedelics. Drawing on narrative theory, we describe the characteristics of such stories and explore the work they do. METHODS: In-depth qualitative interviews with 50 Norwegian users of psychedelics. RESULTS: Almost all participants had frightening experiences when using psychedelics and many described these as bad trips. The key feature of a bad trip was a feeling of losing oneself or going crazy, or ego dissolution. Most users said that these experiences could be avoided by following certain rules, based on tacit knowledge in the subcultures of users. Possessing such knowledge was part of symbolic boundary work that distinguished between drug culture insiders and outsiders. Some also rejected the validity of the term bad trip altogether, arguing that such experiences reflected the lack of such competence. Finally, and most importantly, most participants argued that unpleasant experiences during bad trips had been beneficial and had sometimes given them deep existential and life-altering insights. CONCLUSION: Bad trip experiences are common among users of psychedelics. Such experiences are often transformed into valuable experiences through storytelling. Bad trip narratives may be a potent coping mechanism for users of psychedelics in non-controlled environments, enabling them to make sense of frightening experiences and integrate these into their life stories. Such narrative sense-making, or narrative work, facilitates the continued use of psychedelics, even after unpleasant experiences with the drugs.

Topics

Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Computer science Feeling Linguistics Narrative Parallel computing Philosophy Psychology Qualitative research Social psychology Social science Sociology Storytelling TRIPS architecture

Substances

LSD Psilocybin

Conditions & symptoms

Addiction Anxiety Depression Anxiety or worry Feeling disconnected from others Panic