Risk Factors To Consider When You're Thinking About Doing Psychedelics
3 steps to minimizing your risk and maximizing the benefits.
I’ve tripped exactly 3 times over one weekend, and it’s had life-changing effects.
How come other people who tripped with me didn’t get as much out of it as I did?
I’m a detail and research-oriented kind of person —a trained Engineer— who loves to be prepared and educated when making a decision. Especially one related to taking psychedelics that could potentially cost me my sanity and ruin the rest of my life, not to mention the devastating effects it could have on my family and young children.
Yet, after doing my research, I did it—and it was sooooooooo worth it. I’m a better human being, my relationships are better for it, and my quality of life increased tremendously.
In this article, I explore the 3 steps I’ve taken to prepare myself, which I believe other psychonauts often miss. These steps allowed me to minimize my personal risk factors and maximize the benefits of the psychedelic experience. So much so that I don’t think I’ll ever need to do it again.
What Are the Potential Benefits?
The therapeutic effects range from reduced anxiety and depression, getting out of addictions, healing past wounds and traumas, to finding out your life’s purpose.
All of it can happen because as you take psychedelics, your brain desynchronizes itself temporarily (read more here). For a brief moment, while your ego dissolves and your perception alters, you get access to insights and wisdom that are already in you —hidden in your subconsciousness— but are not easily accessible in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The reason I did it was because I reached a glass ceiling in talk therapy and coaching. I knew I needed to fix something more. I felt there was still something missing, except I had no idea what it was.
What Are Some of the Risks?
The two biggest risks are psychotic outbreaks and serotonin syndrome. The first can ruin your life by triggering or exacerbating a psychotic disorder (such as schizophrenia, bipolar, etc.) that may have stayed hidden otherwise. The second involves drug interaction of common anti-depressants with psychedelics, which can lead to death.
But the reality is... anything you do in life is inherently risky.
You can get in a car accident driving your car.
You can break your heart and get depressed by falling in love.
You can waste years on the wrong person or an unfulfilling career.
Or die by hitting your head after slipping on a soap bar while taking a shower.
So, how do you evaluate the risks associated with psychedelics?
Here are the three steps I followed:
I educated myself,
I evaluated if I was a candidate or if my personal risks outweighed the rewards,
and… because the potential rewards were much greater…I prepared for the journey.
Step One: Understand What You’re Getting Into
There are plenty of resources to learn from. I started my educational journey with the following documentaries that I highly recommend:
Fantastic Fungi (Netflix),
How To Change Your Mind (Netflix),
The “heroic dose” of psychedelics, according to Johns Hopkins | Dr. Matthew Johnson (YouTube),
(Un)Well (Netflix) - episode 4 talks about Ayahuasca.
I also loved the book “Consciousness Medicine” by Françoise Bourzat, where she dives into research of expanded states of consciousness as well as describes her personal experiences.
What I really liked about the book is how Françoise explores expanded states of consciousness with and without the use of psychedelics (through prayer, meditation, body movement, or by participating in an event held in extreme conditions like in a sweat lodge or a silent retreat).
Step Two: Understand Your Personal Risk Factors
Those personal risk factors are based on you and your family’s health history.
You’re not a candidate for psychedelics if you or anyone in your family has a history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other psychotic disorders. I would not approach this topic if I had a close blood relative who suffered from any of it. It’s just not worth the risk.
Furthermore, you can scan your brain and find out how healthy your brain's default mode network is. Scientists have linked psychotic disorders and their manifestations (such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, agitation, or bizarre behaviors) to disruptions in the brain's default mode network (DMN).
That’s exactly what I did.
I scanned my brain at a local biofeedback clinic. (Read about it here). And only after my clinician reviewed my brain’s map and told me my brain’s DMN looked healthy, I started thinking seriously about actually doing the psychedelics.
There are no guarantees.
However, my personal odds of having a psychotic outbreak or not fully coming back from the trip were very, very, veeeeeeeeeery low.
By not fully coming back, I meant getting Flashbacks and Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD). Some psychonauts experience it long after taking the drug. Their brain stays in a disturbed state, even though it should’ve come back.
HPPD is a risk you should be aware of.
Finally, your age is a risk factor, too.
I would not recommend it if you’re under 30. You probably know that most of human brain development happens in childhood and adolescence. But some aspects, especially the development of the prefrontal cortex, as well as emotional maturity happen in our mid-twenties and beyond.
And let me tell you, you do need that brain of yours to be as mature as possible in order to face, process, and then integrate the potentially challenging emotional experiences that psychedelics can induce. That’s why, for someone in their early 20s, whose brain most likely isn’t ready, a bad trip can be pretty traumatic.
Plus, research indicates that the late teens and early twenties are peak periods for the onset of many psychotic disorders. So, waiting until your 30s can help minimize this risk.
I was 34 when I did my psychedelic trip, with no medical history of psychotic disorders in my family and a healthy DMN.
Step Three: Prepare for the Journey
If you’re not a runner, but you decided to run a marathon today, you wouldn’t just go ahead and run it this weekend, would you? You’d need a couple of months of prep to get ready for the big event.
The same is true for psychedelics. You need time to get ready.
I happened to start my preparation long before I knew what psychedelics even were.
And that’s precisely why that experience ended up being the cherry on top of all the self-improvement work I’ve done over the years. I was in the right mental space, ready to receive whatever I was going to learn.
I took a very precisely calculated risk and got incredible rewards, but only because I was prepared.
As a point of comparison, some other participants of the Ayahuasca retreat who co-journeyed with me (I write about my experience here) and clearly didn’t put the time into the preparation didn’t get close to half the results and insights I got. Some left right after the first ceremony, in the middle of the very first night, likely traumatized by what they had just experienced.
Here’s how I prepped and what I recommend to maximize your chances of getting valuable outcomes:
start with talk therapy, followed by coaching - that helps in understanding your own thoughts, beliefs, and various patterns of behavior, and helps build self-awareness.
invest in neurofeedback training - improve and optimize your brain’s actual physical structure to strengthen its health and the ability to come back from a trip.
meditate and reflect - why are you even considering doing the psychedelics? What are the questions you’re looking to answer?
find a safe and legal setting - prioritizing safety is key. Currently, some places with legal psychedelic retreats include Jamaica, Netherlands, Brazil, Peru, some areas of Mexico, and the state of Oregon in the US.
follow the directions of the organizers and be honest with them - they'll likely ask that you change your diet (to vegan if possible) about a week before and after the event, as well as stop taking any supplements and medications (under your doctor’s supervision), since many drugs can interfere with the psychedelics and have potentially life-threatening effects.
Once you’re ready and at the designated location, I highly recommend having a notebook, where you can write down what you experience.
Summary
To sum up, psychedelics offer incredible benefits but are not without certain risks.
I took a very precisely calculated risk and got incredible rewards, but only because I was prepared. By following the steps I’ve outlined above, educating yourself, evaluating your personal risk factors, and thoroughly preparing for the journey, you can maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of your own psychedelic experience.
Enjoyed this article?
Here’s more:
The details of my own psychedelic trip (coming soon)