How often is too often?

[PsycheSmirk]

Helloooooo everyone.
Okay, so, straight to the point.. I've shroomed about four weekends in a row now (just once every weekend though). My usual dose is about half an eighth or less, but the last time I shroomed, I took a little over half an eighth. All the times I have shroomed over those weekends have been the only times I have done shrooms, and I love them.
Anyway, my boyfriend and I got into an argument about what he says is a problem - a.k.a., me shrooming that often. Coincidentally, when he brought that up and addressed it as a "problem," I had been thinking for a few days about how I don't want to do shrooms that often, because the last trip I had was very intense and I hadn't even taken a full eighth. So I told him that I was going to cut my shrooming experiences down. He basically told me that he would "be okay with me doing them once every month or something," but he would rather me not do them at all. I tried telling him that that was a bit too long of an interval for me, and basically, he got upset and told me that I was going to "fuck up my brain."
Now, okay... mushrooms are the ONLY drug I ever do anymore. It's the only thing that sounds appealing to me because it's not synthetic, it gives me insight on my personal emotional issues, and from what I have read, it is the safest psychedelic besides Salvia (which I do not do anymore).

So my question is what the topic subject says: how often is too often?

 

[darkwolfunseen]

I find that psychedelic therapy is most effective when there is enough time in the middle to debrief. Let your body rest and think about all of the issues that came up. As for how often, that really is a personal decision, for some people that is once a month, others it's a year, and others its never. Personally, I think doing it every weekend exhibits "party drug" syndrome, because unless you have the most traumatic life ever, I don't think you need to delve into personal issues that often, without stepping back, learning from your experience, and trying to change yourself for the better. In essence, don't think of it as a number (ie. weeks, months), think of each trip as a unique, separate experience, that requires it's own preparation, and it's own rewiring period. It's really not about what your boyfriend says, it's more about why do you do shrooms every weekend (outside of it being your only drug left)?

 

[GregKasarik]

I tend to agree with darkwolfunseen on this, in that if you are using the shrooms for intense personal work, you will probably be better off with a longer "integration" period between trips.

Having said this, I agree with you when you point out that they are safe and harm free. I don't think that there is anything wrong with tripping on a weekly basis, either for exploration of the Divine, or for or enjoying them at parties.

However, it is vital to remember that set and setting are hugely important. The fact that you had considered that you may be taking them too often, indicates that a shift was taking place in your set; one that would have naturally lead to you reducing your intake in the near future.

Your boyfriend, however, comes under the heading of "Setting". Ultimately, it seems that you may have to decide how important the shrooms are to you and how important your BF is. One or the other may have to go. If he is hostile to your trips, then it will very quickly impact upon every trip you take, even if you don't tell him when you are tripping.

As an example, I recall a time when I was living temporarily with a friend. She said flat out, that she didn't want me tripping during my stay. Indeed, it was the only rule that she set. After I was there for about 6 weeks, she went to stay at her parents place for the weekend, so I pulled out my shrooms and took a dose. It was, to say the least a very ordinary trip. I've never had a bad tripping experience, but this one tasted like cardboard. All because I knew that I was breaking my friend's trust in what I was doing. In other words, my setting sucked.

In your situation though, discussing the shrooms with your boyfriend would be the best first step. Ask him what his concerns are and try to address them. I'd be curious to know how much he really know about them. Has he read the brilliant research being done at the John Hopkins, which is one of the two most prestigious medical research hospitals in the USA (http://csp.org/psilocybin/)? Has he read any of the other literature regarding shrooms? Has he ever taken them? Does he really know what he is talking about, or is he just doing what most people do and taking in what the media said, as if it was gospel? Having said that, how much do you know about them and are you able to talk intelligently about them?

I'd also encourage you to understand both you and your BF better. Empathy, towards both you and those around you is the ultimate key to a happy life and there is an excellent personality test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) which can provide excellent insights into who you are as a person. In my experience people who use entheogens are often iNtuitives, as they love the interaction with ideas. They are also Percieving (not to be confused with "perceptive"), as they love the new possibilities and the sense of boundary loss. It may be that your BF is a Sensing type (not to be confused with sensitive), which means that he will simply not understand your inclinations towards ideas. He could also be a "Judging" type, which means that he will feel uncomfortable with you breaking what he feels to be the "rules". You can find a free version of the test here and googling your four letter code will come up with a huge amount of information regarding your type's strengths and weaknesses (and yes, they all have them and none are intrinsically better than others): http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

I am a mystic (ENFP in the MBTI) and I spend quite a bit of my time exploring the Divine. I like to trip and while these days I only do it a few times a year, I always go in hard, in order to extract the most from the experience. As such, I don't date girls unless they are OK with the whole Entheogenic thing. They don't have to do them, they just need to understand and accept that they are a part of who I am. I raise it early on in potential relationships and if I don't like the response, I don't date the girl. I adopted this policy when dating someone who just didn't "get it", and who flat out refused to engage with any of the evidence that I discussed above (ESFJ in the MBTI). Simply, she didn't want to be challenged and was content in her own little world. She even told me she hated being made to think! I left her there and have never looked back.

Ultimately, you need to pay attention to your intuitions on this, as they are a vital indicator of a healthy relationship with any of the entheogens. There are no right, or wrong answers and what has worked for me and darkwolfunseen may very well not be appropriate for your situation.


I hope it all works out well for you! Trust yourself and take care.

 

[Shroomination]

i would REALLY have to agree with both of you. coming from someone who did shrooms close to 200 times in a year, when your in that place that many times, so close together, the experience can have extremely detrimental effects on your psyche. i was too into the exploration and not too into the integration and to be quite frank, it f@#$ed up my sense of self and my motivations. i still find after 6 years, mentally recovering from the damage i wreaked on myself has been a long road. when i first started doing them i was 17 and didnt let myself do it more than once every couple months, i thought this was safe because i had no idea where these magic little things were taking me and i didnt want to get hurt. that quickly went away when i had my first enlightening experience. after that i started a weekly regiment which turned into a every 2-3 day experiment. i was waiting only long enough for my tolerance to go down so i could have a descent trip the next time, without having to consume a quarter ounce. then i bought an ounce to sell, im just going to say, i didnt sell them. i spent close to 2 weeks, on shrooms, everyday, all day. things in my life went downhill really quick at that point. i was kicked out of school because basically i didnt give a f#@k about anything anymore. i didnt see the point to the social constructs of life anymore and with alot of other really crazy stuff going on in my life i became extremely suicidal. now, im not saying shrooms made me that way, so who ever reads this do not even try to interpret it that way. my problem was that i was very young and very ignorant. i found myself chasing something i was never going to find without the help of someone being able to integrate my experiences, and with it being almost every day it just made things even less significant. the trip became a way of escape, from life, from my family, from my sadness really. the first time i actually tried to kill myself was the last time i had done mushrooms.
no i didnt try to kill myself on mushrooms, but when i was tripping i was like "hell this aint so bad, im sure dieing is alot like this, if i died right now i wouldnt have a problem in the world!!"
and that was it for like 4 or 5 years i didnt touch mushrooms once. i tried LSD a couple times but it was cut with alot of speed so it confirmed that i dont really care for anything thats not natural, doesnt comes from the earth, or synthesized. the last time i took shrooms was about a year ago, im working with a shaman who has helped me integrate my experiences, at least the ones i can remember, and now that this has happened my psychedelic experiences past and present hold such a more powerful understanding.
i advocate the use of mind bending, altering, melting, enlightening, and lifting substances to see different aspects of yourself or of life in general, but if you have no way of integrating your experiences they are essentially useless. please be safe in your use, especially how often you use them. i learned very fast that, with the right circumstances, you can really damage you perception of life. i dont want something i believe to be a very effective psychoanalytical tool to be turned into a "horror-drug" because people are "loosing their minds". if you are willing to step beyond the bounds of our reality you must have the tools into which you can make these experiences useful in this realm.
otherwise, your just beating your brain with the dead horse!

 

[GregKasarik]

^ Well said!