After a Psychedelic Experience

You took something, and it left something behind. A trip that frightened you, or one that opened a door you cannot close. Either way, you are not sure who you can tell.

Most people who use psychedelics are not dependent on them. Some use them for fun, some for a reason of their own. This page does not judge that, and it does not pretend it did not happen.

It is about what comes after. The Royal College of Psychiatrists says the same in its 2025 position statement:

Under circumstances in which someone may have experienced adverse or destabilising psychological effects after self-administration, they should be encouraged to seek psychotherapeutic support towards processing their experiences.

Source: RCPsych PS02/25

What we are and what we are not

We help you find a professional to talk with after the experience. That is all. We do not encourage or assist drug use, and neither do the professionals listed here.

A professional found here will not prepare you for a trip, guide one or sit with you during one. They will not advise on doses or on where to get anything. That line is written into the terms every professional agrees to.

We do not list, name or recommend any clinic or retreat that gives a drug as part of treatment. We do not claim that any psychedelic works as a treatment.

How it can feel afterwards

Some experiences fade by the next morning. Others stay. People come to us with:

• A bad trip that keeps replaying, days or weeks later
• Anxiety or panic that was not there before
• Feeling cut off from yourself or from the world around you
• Visual changes that have not gone away
• A sense that something big happened and no one to tell

FRANK says flashbacks and ongoing visual distortions can occasionally happen, and often cause great distress. It also says LSD can make an existing mental health problem worse.

Not every experience is a bad one. Some people come back with a question about their life, their work or a relationship. That is a fair thing to bring to a professional too.

Source: FRANK: LSD

When to see a GP first

Some things need a doctor before they need a therapist. Visual changes that persist, paranoia, low mood that stays or panic that keeps returning go to your GP first.

If help cannot wait for an appointment, our UK crisis page lists people you can reach at any hour.

Tell the doctor what you took and when. They have heard it before, and it changes what they look for.

Where the law stands

Psilocybin, LSD and MDMA are Class A drugs. All three sit in Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.

Class sets the penalty. Schedule sets whether a doctor can prescribe. Schedule 1 means no doctor can, outside an approved research trial.

Heroin, which is diamorphine, shows the difference. It is Class A too, but it sits in Schedule 2, so a doctor can prescribe it.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists puts it plainly:

Other than ketamine and esketamine, these treatments are not currently available in the UK on a legal basis outside of clinical research trials.

Talking about an experience you have already had is lawful. Nothing on this page, and nothing a professional here does, helps anyone take a drug.

Release runs a free and confidential advice line on drugs and the law. Take a caution, a charge or a drug test at work there.

Sources: Home Office: controlled drugs list, UK Parliament: MDR 2001 Sch 1, RCPsych PS02/25, Release: helpline

Microdosing and the evidence

Many people microdose in the hope of a lift in mood or focus. The trials so far do not back that up.

A 2021 self-blinding study found that the reported benefits could be explained by the placebo effect. Two placebo-controlled trials published in 2026 found no reliable gain in thinking or mood beyond placebo.

That is not a verdict on you. If you microdose and feel better, the feeling is real. The research says the capsule may not be what caused it.

Sources: Szigeti et al. 2021, Prochazkova & Marschall 2026

Someone who has been there

The Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project runs a free online peer support group. People who have been through it themselves run the group. It is not therapy, and it says so.

Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project

Anyone struggling after a psychedelic experience

A research project with a free, confidential online peer support group, run by volunteers who have been through a post-psychedelic crisis.

Peer support, not therapy. Not run by medical or therapeutic professionals.

Last Sunday of the month, 5pm to 6.30pm

Email About the group

For anything about the drug itself, FRANK answers around the clock. What it does, how long it lasts and what mixes badly are all fair questions.

FRANK

Anyone

Honest, confidential information about drugs, with a helpline, a text service and a search for local drug treatment services.

Standard call rates 24/7

Call Text Find local services

Sources: CPEP: support group, FRANK: contact

What talking can do

An experience like this can be hard to hold on your own. It may not fit the words you have, and the people around you may not want to hear it.

A professional gives you somewhere to put it. Together you can sort what the experience showed you from what it did to you.

If a bad trip is still replaying, it can behave like any frightening event. Our trauma page explains how that works and what helps.

If anxiety has stayed, our anxiety page covers it. If sleep has gone, our sleep page may help. If the drug has become the way you cope, the alcohol and drugs page lists free specialist services.

Who to look for

We do not yet list a professional with specialist training in this area. What you need is a professional you can tell the whole story to, without flinching on either side.

Ask in a first session how they feel about drug use. A good professional will answer honestly. If the answer makes you feel smaller, try another.

A person-centred counsellor may suit an experience you want to explore at your own pace. If the fear is the main thing, a trauma-focused approach may fit better.

You might find it helps to write down what happened before you start. Not to hand over, only so the shape of it is clear to you.