https://www.reddit.com/r/shrooms/comments/gwh87x/scientific_revelations_about_what_causes_good_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmfScientific revelations about what causes good and bad trips on psilocybin!
**TL;DR: Due to recent scientific revelations, GABAergics such as lavender oil and l-theanine could prove to be some of the most effective and scientifically proven tools for** ***actively causing good trips*** **and soothing bad trips. Highly recommended for beginners or anxious and fearful people.**
Biology student here.
There are impressive news, which may open up ways to actively induce good trips and positive ego deaths.
Check it out, weeks ago this paper was published, where *Mason et. al* researched the different neurotransmitters correlating with "positive or negative ego dissolution experiences" on serotonergic psychedelics.
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-020-0718-8](
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-020-0718-8)
The researchers found that lower glutamate (the main excitatory neurotransmitter) in the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus are correlated with good trips, while higher levels of glutamate are correlated with bad trips.
This has serious practical implications - higher glutamate excitation is naturally countered by the brain via GABA release (the main inhibitory neurotransmitter). More GABA in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus should consistently be able to induce good trips.
**This is a big deal.**
**Using glutamate-inhibitory or GABAergic substances, herbs and supplements may be a highly effective method of actively inducing good trips and positive ego deaths.**
Lavender oil is GABAergic and is a crazy strong anti-anxiety supplement (comparable to benzos in anxiolytic effect size), with no serious side effects and no addiction potential.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612440/](
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612440/)
Anecdotally, I can report that every single time I combine psychedelics and lavender oil (80mg softgels) there is no anxiety or fear left and all my tripping friends have a great time.
L-theanine is also GABAergic and a mild anxiolytic. Anecdotally, every single trip combined with high doses of L-theanine was very positive.
[https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/72/8/507/1919604](
https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/72/8/507/1919604)
At last, obviously, GABA is GABAergic. But there's controversy around if any supplemented GABA actually reaches the brain.
Meditation also reduces activity in brain areas known to cause bad trips.
Caffeine actually increases glutamate activity, so high doses of caffeine may actually be involved in causing some people's bad trips.
Of course, all these things may only decrease the chance of having a bad trip. Do not worry that the nature of psychedelics will be changed with this: Horror trips will still happen; there will still be negative experiences to learn from. But especially for beginners and anxiety-prone people, using lavender oil and l-theanine may prove to be a great tool for decreasing anxiety and fear.
10/10 recommendation for using l-theanine and lavender oil in combination with shrooms, LSD and DMT.
Also posted to r/LSD and r/Psychonaut
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