This is the three step calming plan

recognition , calming , distraction

To be clear, this is a compilation of suggestions on how to deal with anxiety. If you have your own way, like meditation, that is just as valid if not more valid.

Step one: recognition

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you believe the fear.

essential

Step two: Calming

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begin

Step three: new mental focus/distraction

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the LSD experience, personal and subjective as it is, is affected more by the individual’s attitudes and behavior than by anything another can do for him. This section explains techniques and knowledge which can be used by a person who is experiencing a bad trip to try and help them calm down and deal with the situation. The common wisdom on what to do if you have a bad trip is this: "do not fight the trip" and "just go with the flow"This advice can be true or false depending on how it is interpreted.What people mean when they advise that you don't 'fight' the trip is that you shouldn't panic or worry or be tense in your body/mind. You should not in any way give in to the panic impulse. Your body and mind is triggering the natural panic fight or flight state. You will want to freak out. To scream. To run around. Or even to just worry: to think of disaster, and about how you are going to be fucked up forever. These reactions are not rational, as they will not do any good, and the worries are unfounded. They are just the natural behavioral reactions and thoughts which arise once the panic reaction is triggered.Objective: To understand that the panic being felt and negative thoughts/ideas/beliefs experienced are nothing more than a product of a negative mindset caused by the panic reaction.This is exceptionally important but isn't always easy. This is because it is often some particular thing which is the focus of panic, like believing that the devil is possessing you, aliens are abducting you, friends are trying to kill you, etc. This thing could and often is an anxious thought brought about by the negative psychedelic experience. It could be a fear about something which is or you merely think is happening or could happen.So, instead of thinking 'I am experiencing a panic reaction!' (general anxiety), which would put you in a position where you realised what was going on, you think 'this thing is happening !' (specific anxiety). For example, instead of thinking "I am experiencing a panic reaction!", you think "I am being possessed by the devil!" In other words,You think "oh shit, this terrible thing is happening ! (aliens/devils/murdering friends, etc)" and this sets you down the path for increases in anxiety. The path for opposing anxiety begins with the recognition that you are simply experiencing an anxiety reaction and that isthat is going on. Your mindset is negative and so you are thinking negative thoughts. This recognition isSo, if you suddenly find yourself worrying that you are going insane, that you will never stop tripping, that you are communicating with the devil, then these thoughts, whatever their content, can be dismissed as irrational. Rather than thinking 'X negative circumstance is happening!', such as, for example, 'I will never stop tripping!', you will, once successfully realising the irrational nature of the fear, think 'I am having a panic reaction!'. I repeat this because of its importance.This is more easily said than done, unfortunately. It is not easy to prevent negative thoughts from capturing your attention.Objective: to reduce or completely get rid of anxietyFocusing on breathing, and on keeping breathing slow and steady is effective and can be done by anyone. Direct your entire consciousness on the feeling of slowly breathing in and out, noticing every sensation. Notice the progression of sensation involved, and focus on the expectation of the next particular sensation. This drops your heart rate, and focuses your mind on calmness rather than the perceived negative aspects of the experience. You will calm down.The pain and anxiety will not go away instantly. If you begin this but don't notice as much change as you would like, do not let yourself worry that it is not working. You need to realise that the anxiety will try to latch onto anything which you could worry about - including the idea that nothing will help you. When negative thoughts and worries do arise, you must ignore them and not believe them. It is your focus and attention on the fear and anxiety which causes it to rise.Keep this thought in mind: I can not actually be harmed here. It feels horrible, but that is temporary and cannot hurt me. Nothing bad can actually happen.Do not expect the anxiety, fear and pain to go away instantly. If it does, great, but if all you can manage is to stop it escalating or lower it then that is still a good achievement. Spend some more time calming yourself, remembering to focus on your breathing. This forces your body to calm down. It is your body which is responsible for your mental pain and only once the body has relaxed can the mindto relax.Do not allow your muscles to be tensedDo not whimper or speak with a shaky voiceTry not to shiver or shake (this is related to muscle tension)Do not have a pained or anxious facial expressionIt may take some time, but go through the routine in your mind- focus on the breathing, then think about your body, is anything not relaxed? The mind will follow.This point about the body being tensed is important. While experiencing anxiety, our muscles tense up. Shoulder and abdomen/stomach muscles but also leg and arm muscles will be tensed. Becoming aware of this and deliberately relaxing your body will help your mind let go of the anxiety.Breathe in and deliberately relax your stomach muscles as much as possible - let your abdomen swell as you inhale and feel the tension and anxiety being held in that area melt away as you breathe into it. Imagine the anxiety is just being pushed out by your inhaling. Then breathe out and imagine the anxiety is just being exhaled. Repeat.Now say out loud "I feel fine". Say it like you mean it. Say it without your voice shaking. Keep trying until you manage it. Take deep breaths in between attempts. Understand that you can do this. And even if you can't, it really doesn't matter anyway- anxiety feels horrible but it can't harm you. So there really is nothing to worry about. This realisation will help you. It can seem like a lot of hard work is ahead of you and the fact that you have no real choice in the matter can be frightening, but know this: No one in your position has ever failed to come back to normality. Time will get you to the end of your psychedelic experience no matter what. The only question is whether you will keep yourself calm and allow time to carry you to the end of your trip, or whether time will have to drag you there kicking and screaming. But you will get there.Objective: to perform an activity which engages the mind in a simple wayOnce the initial panic has been overcome like this, get up, change your scene. do something which concentrates the mind in an easy way, like watching a film or tv show you have seen many times before. Ignore thoughts which might pop into your mind like 'you are pretending to be ok right now.. but really everything is HORRIBLE JESUSCHRIST WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING'This takes some conscious effort. So, 'going with the trip', which is the commonly expressed wisdom is potentially misleading, because the natural reaction your mindto take is panic. You have to take control of the experience.What counts as having successfully dealt with a psychedelic crisis is not necessarily a complete turnaround of a perceived negative experience into an enjoyable experience. If all you can manage is to reduce the initial panic into a steady level of moderate anxiety, then that is still a serious achievement. The strategy then is simply to wait until the drug effects have completely warn off and you are tired enough to sleep. Make sure you are tired enough, and don't necessarily lie down with the expectation of falling asleep. It might not happen, in which case you should not be worried, but accept that you need to wait longer. Just lie down and rest. If you manage to sleep, great, if not, you were keeping relaxed, which was great as well. Increases of anxiety can occur during this period, but are normal and if you keep the attitude described towards it then you will be fine.Remember that the goal with all anxious thoughts "X is happening" is to stop believing the fear, and think instead "I am having a panic reaction !"Some anxious thoughts are particularly difficult. Here are some examples:This is a very common anxious thought and it is particularly difficult to dismiss because when you think it, the anxiety increases, perhaps the visual hallucinations change in a sinister way (see here for interesting discussion on that), and you essentially feel worse. The problem is that this 'feeling worse' is easily mistaken for 'feeling insane' - it is mistaken for evidence that it is true that you are going insane. Again the only advice is to try to breath slowly, remember this paragraph and remember that it is a mistake and untrue to think that. Ignore thoughts which might surface to make you more unsure, like "but I'm not a psychiatrist!" or "what if I suddenly black out now, and wake up having killed people". All thoughts must be taken as equally irrational. It might help some people to think "ok, even if I am insane, I can deal with that when I am sober. For now, I will just wait and breath slowly".This fear can be terrifying, almost like seeing the instruments of torture which you know are about to be used on you. Again, you have to just remember that it is your actual fear of escalation which is causing the escalation. You can stop it from getting worse. If you can dismiss the feeling, then you can refer back to this success if the feeling ever arises again, and draw confidence from it. Distract yourself, and then 5 minutes or so later, think to yourself about how you thought you were going to get far worse for sure, and how you were wrong about that.Further pointsFind out what the time is, and work out when the various milestones of a trip are, such as the end of the peak, and the comedown . This will ground you in reality and give you an idea of when to expect the trip to end.Here is a graph which represents the level of effects of the LSD over time: