Psychedelic question for people who have used lsd. So I’ve been in ocd recovery for about 2 months and have ocd since February. Since then I’ve improved a great amount and basically beat my hocd which was my main. My secondary was “what If I never recover” which is super common in everyone and is what I have at the moment. My ocd is quite mild as well. Anyway, I took 100ug in March when I was first recovering and thought it was terrible because I just got soooooo deep into my thoughts and I barely had any skills to handle thoughts. So I waited until yesterday and took 100ug again and felt a lot different. Like I was having normal deep thoughts mixed in with ocd thoughts popping up. I got really deep into my thoughts again but none really bothered me and I was agreeing sarcastically when I could. After yesterday I’m feeling very good and am still having ocd thoughts ofc but still no bothering me. I told myself I’m going to wait until I’m fully recovered to ever do this again. I don’t think people who take lsd while are recovering is the best idea which my wise mind is now telling me and its telling me to conquer ocd and then come back to this if and only if you are strong enough. Does anyone with psychedelic experience have any different thoughts or anything related to lsd while recovering from ocd? Because I think it’s quite important to be in a strong place in your mind before taking lsd again.

Obviously there is no evidence for lasting cognitive problems from taking LSD, except very rarely HPPD which is visual, not cognitive. But it can certainly set you back for a while to have a bad trip, and those are caused by not being able to let go during the experience, including letting go of OCD thoughts or themes which show themselves and saying "that's for later, I don't need to stress over it right now" and letting those reminders comes and go. For some people, hallucinogens can help by teaching them to let go, allowing them to reach a mental state of peace and safety, and even by forcing them to face things they have been avoiding. That's what these drugs do. Plus they're neurogenerative which is why you get a weeks long afterglow where you're more self aware, calmer and open. That's the period which can really be used to make progress in life and mentally, afterglow from a trip does the same stuff to your brain as microdosing does, so make the most of it. For the people who are able to take on the humility and faith to allow the experience to happen, psychedelics can be really beneficial. Whereas people who take LSD and try to fight it or control the trip or go into it with loads of fear and can't go with the flow of whatever it shows them are gonna have a bad time. If you tripped yesterday, you should have a pretty clear idea which category you fall into.

Also, as much as I enjoy talking about it, you post about this topic quite a bit. And rather than generally engaging with the thoughts about psychedelics etc, I've noticed you tend to want to hone in and get really specific about the particular question that is on your mind. Which, on this app, I've come to recognise is an indicator of an obsession and seeking others' thoughts about your specific concern to try to confirm whether you're right or wrong. Look, you have a feeling that you should make more progress on your OCD before tripping again- sounds reasonable. Only you can judge what is probably right for you. People are so extremely different that their results from taking LSD while they have OCD or are in recovery are going to be extremely varied, and you're not going to get a totally certain directive out of canvassing for experiences. You made a decision, you're not completely sure if it was the right one, you can live with not knowing. You don't need to go over this topic to try to work out whether you should feel regret or traumatised or do it again. Don't obsess over LSD. Enjoy this time where you have the emotional space to say no to thoughts and to choose not to be emotionally overwhelmed by OCD, and use it wisely to learn lessons about keeping that going into the future. If there comes a time when you have gotten stuck again and a trip might help you out of it, you'll know. You don't have to make your decision now about whether and when to do it again. Don't spoil this.