How to get through a bad trip, step by step

A bad trip cannot be switched off, but it can be made smaller. DRUGSinfo says it plainly: a trip cannot be stopped early, but you can change your surroundings and talk to someone you trust, and the bad trip passes once the substance wears off (DRUGSinfo). The steps below follow that advice, in the order that tends to matter. They are practical steps, not medical care. If something on the emergency list applies, call for help first.

1. Tell someone it is going wrong

FRANK's first advice for a bad trip is to let your friends know and get their help (FRANK, magic mushrooms). Say it in a short sentence: "This is going wrong, can you stay with me." A sober person is best. If nobody near you is sober, a friend on the phone is still better than nobody.

Do not go off on your own to sort it out. Walking away from a group, out of a building or onto a street is how a bad trip turns into a dangerous one. In a survey of 1,993 people about their worst mushroom trip, risky behaviour was more likely when physical comfort and social support were missing (Carbonaro et al. 2016).

2. Change the room

Move somewhere quieter. FRANK's emergency guidance for someone panicking or hallucinating is to go to a quiet, calm space away from bright light and loud noise (FRANK, emergencies). In practice:

• a smaller room with a door, or one corner of the room with your back to a wall
• softer light: a lamp instead of the ceiling light, no flashing screens
• fewer people, ideally one or two you know
• music turned down, or one familiar song, or silence

Outdoors, sit down somewhere sheltered and away from water, roads and edges. Do not try to travel. Getting on a bike, scooter or behind the wheel during a trip is dangerous and in many countries illegal.

3. Slow your breathing down

FRANK also advises encouraging slow, deep breaths. Breathe in through the nose while you count to four, and let the breath out slowly while you count to six. Do it ten times. Counting gives your attention one small, steady thing to follow while the rest is moving.

A racing heart is a normal effect of many psychedelics. On a bad trip it is easily read as a sign that something is seriously wrong, and that thought makes the heart race more. If the racing comes with chest pain, fainting, a seizure or trouble breathing, it belongs on the emergency page.

4. Ground yourself in what is real

Grounding means pulling your attention back to things you can check with your senses. A few ways that work without any equipment:

• Put a hand on something solid and describe it to yourself: a blanket, the floor, a cold glass. Peer supporters at the Fireside Project suggest exactly this to callers (Fireside Project).
• Name five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch.
• Drink a few sips of water. Hold the glass with both hands.
• Say out loud what is happening: "I took something. This is the drug. It will wear off."

That last sentence matters most. The fear of going mad or never coming back is one of the most common forms of a bad trip (Barrett et al. 2016). It feels permanent because psychedelics distort time. It is not.

5. Stop fighting the feeling

Many people describe the fear easing once they stopped trying to push it away. The Zendo Project, which has run psychedelic peer support at festivals for more than a decade, trains its volunteers to support people through difficult emotions without trying to suppress or fix them (Zendo Project). You can do the same for yourself: let the sadness or fear be there, sit or lie down, and wait for the next wave instead of wrestling with this one.

Closing your eyes can make things more intense; opening them can make the room feel strange. Switch between the two and see which is easier right now.

6. Add nothing

Do not take anything else to end the trip. Alcohol, cannabis and extra doses often make a hard trip harder. Emergency doctors in Manchester warned in 2024 about "trip killers", medicines people take to cut a trip short. In an analysis of 709 Reddit posts, benzodiazepines (sedatives) and antipsychotics were the most recommended, mostly without any warning about side effects such as oversedation, low blood pressure or slowed breathing (Yates and Melon 2024). Leave medicines to paramedics and doctors.

7. Wait it out, and watch the clock

Write down or ask someone to note the time you took the substance. Most bad trips peak and then slowly lose their grip, and seeing the hours pass on a clock is reassuring when time feels broken. FRANK gives 6 to 12 hours for an LSD trip (FRANK, LSD); mushroom and truffle trips are shorter.

When to call for help instead

Call 112 (EU), 999 (UK) or 911 (US) if you or someone with you cannot be woken, has trouble breathing, has a seizure, overheats and does not cool down, or might hurt themselves or someone else. Also call if you do not know what was taken and things are getting worse. Tell the operator what was taken; in the UK, FRANK notes that in most circumstances ambulance staff will not inform the police (FRANK, emergencies).

In the US, the Fireside Project runs a free psychedelic support line by phone or text at 62-FIRESIDE (623-473-7433), from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific time. In the Netherlands, the Drugs Infolijn of the Trimbos Institute answers questions on 0900-1995 on weekdays from 9:00 to 17:00 (DRUGSinfo contact). Neither replaces an ambulance.

When it is over, the page on the days after a bad trip covers sleep, talking it through and when to get help.