What To Know Before Trying Psilocybin (Tips For Your First Trip)

Psilocybin, the organic psychedelic compound naturally occurring in at least 300 species of “magic mushrooms,” has attracted a lot of recent attention as decriminalization and clinical research efforts continue to expand public knowledge and acceptance of the drug. With legal and societal views of the psychedelic fungal compound changing across the globe, the potential psychological health benefits of the substance are becoming more widely available to those who may benefit from psilocybin treatment. 

Although such “magic mushrooms” have been used for millennia by human cultures to promote healing, alter consciousness, and conduct a variety of religious and spiritual ceremonies, psilocybin has long been classified as a drug of abuse without any known medicinal purposes. As such, the substance is completely illegal under federal law in the U.S. However, present-day scientific research on the psychedelic substance is showing new ways to treat serious mental health conditions — most notably, treatment-resistant major depression — indicating that psilocybin potentially has legitimate medicinal uses. 

With intriguing developments backing psilocybin’s safety and potential benefits, you might be considering exploring the effects of “magic mushrooms” for the first time. Since your first-time psychedelic substance trip can be intimidating, we have put together this guide offering practical tips for your first trip. Whether you are interested in psilocybin for spiritual exploration or mental health treatment, here are some ways to prepare yourself and make your experience as positive as possible. 

What is Psilocybin?

Psilocybin, unlike laboratory-synthesized substances such as LSD or MDMA, is a naturally occurring psychedelic fungal compound that interacts with serotonin receptors in the brain. In this way, psilocybin stimulates hyperactivity in the prefrontal cortex, producing the psychedelic substance’s characteristic hallucinatory experiences, which are often accompanied by antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects.

Consuming psilocybin also temporarily disrupts the connection between certain brain regions while increasing connectivity in other areas, typically creating profound shifts in perception, thought, and mood. By changing patterns of brain connectivity, psychedelics like psilocybin can alter negative inflexible thought patterns that characterize a number of mental health disorders. Therapeutic outcomes of psilocybin treatment include increased emotional openness, decreased depressive symptoms, and even lasting personality changes or spiritual transformations. 

In the U.S., however, the drug is considered to have high addiction or abuse potential and “no accepted medical use” according to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which categorizes psilocybin as a Schedule I controlled substance alongside heroin and bath salts. Therefore, psilocybin is completely illegal to possess, use, or distribute in the United States. However, despite being classified as a dangerous, addictive drug, psilocybin has been administered in numerous clinical trials using animals and humans, and these studies have found psilocybin to be generally physiologically safe and non-addictive. This calls into question the legitimacy of the psychedelic’s current legal status.

In countries around the world — like Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Denmark, as well as in certain U.S. states such as Oregon and Colorado — revolutionary decriminalization and legalization initiatives have been on the rise since 2018 when the drug was announced as a “breakthrough therapy” for major depression by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

What Do the Effects of Psilocybin Feel Like?

Several potential effects are associated with taking psilocybin, which can vary greatly depending on dosage, mindset, and setting. When taking the substance, people often experience altered sensory perceptions, where colors, shapes, sounds, or scenes are perceived without actually being real. They may also lose their sense of time and space. Emotional experiences are typically described as being euphoric or insightful, but under certain circumstances, negative emotions like anxiety or paranoia can surface. 

One of the more profound experiences associated with psilocybin use is the “ego death” or loss of sense of self, where users may feel introspective and deeply connected to their surroundings, enjoying a mystical sense of “oneness” with others and the natural world. It is often in these experiences of oneness with the universe that users report gaining renewed perspectives on life, relationships, or themselves. 

5 Tips for a Positive First-Time Experience with Psilocybin

If it is your first time using psilocybin, preparation and caution can play a major role in ensuring you enjoy a safe and meaningful experience. Here, we have a list of a few crucial trip tips that are intended to help you get started on your first psilocybin journey with confidence!

1. Mindset and Attitude

Often referred to as “set and setting,” the preparation of pleasing surroundings and feelings is considered a crucial aspect of getting ready for your psilocybin experience.

First, you want to prepare a positive “set,” which refers to the “mindset,” for taking on the psychedelic excursion. Before taking psilocybin mushrooms, make sure you are feeling happy and healthy overall. It’s not recommended to use psilocybin when you are stressed or in a bad mood, as this can produce anxious experiences and other negative effects. It’s also ideal to clear your schedule of possible interruptions and stressors that could disturb your experience.

If you would feel more comfortable with company, you might want to invite a reliable friend to support you and keep you safe, especially if it is your first time trying psilocybin. Plus, the company can also be beneficial if your friend has tried psilocybin mushrooms before because they can provide real-time guidance and advice for enjoying your trip and avoiding potentially rough negative experiences. 

2. Environmental Surroundings

Now that we have a positive mindset ready, we move onward to the “setting” part of preparing the “set & setting” for your psychedelic journey. The setting involves the features and activity of one’s external surroundings, such as location, background music, climate, and other people. Customize the atmosphere however you’d like, but the most important thing is to make sure you will be comfortable, so ensure that you will have easy access to a bathroom, water, and other necessities during your trip.

Also, since the sensory experiences of the external world can become altered during a psychedelic trip, we recommend that you choose a place that is familiar and safe to you where you can sit or lie down. If you find yourself feeling active, the shapes and colors of the outside world may be a stimulating way to take in nature from a fresh perspective. Some people even report feeling a more powerful connection to nature after their psilocybin excursion. Finally, if you don’t want to be alone, consume psilocybin mushrooms around close, positive friends whom you trust, so that you can feel comfortable as your senses and thoughts shift in new ways. 

3. Dosing

The most common route of administration for psilocybin is by ingestion, either by eating dried psilocybin mushrooms or brewing them into a tea, but some people opt for other infused products like capsules, honey, or chocolate-containing powdered mushrooms for precise dosing.

When choosing a starting dose, begin with a small dose, about 1-2 grams of dried mushrooms for beginners. Starting with a low dose is good practice because psilocybin’s effects can vary depending on individual factors such as body weight, metabolism, and sensitivity. Wait 30 minutes to an hour before having another 0.3-0.5 grams if you do not feel much effect. Gradually increasing the dosage allows you to become more familiar with how the substance affects you, so you can have a safe and manageable psychedelic experience. If you want an even softer introduction to psilocybin, you can also try microdosing 01.-0.3 grams of dried mushrooms, which will produce more subtle effects without the intense visuals or ego dissolution associated with higher doses. The mushrooms typically take 20 to 60 minutes to take effect, and these effects can last about four to six hours. 

4. No Driving!

This should go without saying, but it is very unsafe to drive while under the influence of psilocybin. Since the psychedelic effects will cause your perception of reality to become distorted, you should never drive a car or operate any other sort of vehicle while on a psilocybin trip. Besides the safety risks, it is also highly illegal to drive with or even consume this substance in many places, and jail is not where we want our psilocybin journey to end. 

5. Mirrors?

Urban legend warns against gazing into the mirror while using psychedelic substances like psilocybin, so you might wonder whether you are at risk of seeing something scary happen to your face, or maybe you’ll become “lost” in a random reflective surface for a psychedelic eternity. While it is possible that looking into a mirror can potentially create negative experiences that produce unsettling or intense emotional reactions, looking at a mirror while taking psilocybin isn’t necessarily always terrifying or detrimental to your experience.

For some people, the experience of seeing their reflections in the mirror while taking psychedelics does produce anxiety, but for others, the experience can be entertaining and even transformative. In fact, research analyzing Reddit posts on the topic of psychedelics and mirror-gazing even found that the majority of posts express positive effects on the users’ self-perception, which calls into question the spooky lore surrounding the psychedelic mirror experience.

However, since looking at a mirror can draw attention to, or even amplify, the altered perceptual state that psilocybin induces, the reflected image of oneself can appear distorted while taking psilocybin, which might bring to the surface unpleasant hidden emotions and insecurities about one’s appearance or identity. For first-time users, these experiences may be overwhelming, so it might just be safest to avoid the mirrors this time around.

What if I Have a Bad Trip?

If you have a “bad trip” while using psilocybin, know that it’s a relatively common experience. The usually blissful emotions that characterize the intense “ego-death” experience can sometimes manifest as frightening feelings of losing control or losing one’s mind. Nevertheless, research published by the International Journal of Drug Policy indicates that many users take even these frightening experiences to be positive and transformative, resulting in deep personal understanding and life-altering insights.

So, even if your trip doesn’t go quite as planned, there is still the potential to turn unpleasant psychedelic experiences into valuable lessons.

By following the tips for your first trip listed here, you can have a positive, warm adventure that will help you connect with others, nature, and yourself. Like many others are discovering, you may even discover some potential mental health benefits that last long after the trip is over.