In crisis? Call or text 988 free · confidential · 24/7
Anxiety Disorders

Next steps

After a traumatic LSA psychedelic experience four weeks ago, a reader describes ongoing panic attacks, depersonalisation, suicidal thoughts, and fear, with a past history of anxiety, eating disorders, cyclothymia, and recent grief.

Answered by Jim LaPierre, LCSW, CCS

Question

Hi, four weeks ago I decided to take a pill of a natural psychedelic (containing LSA as active substance). I never had it before and in general I am not a drug user, I took them from my holiday in Amsterdam. The experience was highly traumatic, I experienced a near-death experience, I was convinced I was dying and I had a panic attack, feeling my soul was going out of my body. My boyfriend that was with me took me to the hospital, they check and my blood pressure and heart rate were normal. After that day it has been hard for me to live. I had a panic attack one week after that event, I started being scared of myself, having suicidal thoughts, not feeling like anything in life can make me happy anymore (I had a great life before, a loving relationship and my own business, nothing excites me anymore), on Monday I went to the gym and while walking back I felt huge vertigo and a feeling like falling down, as if I didn't have control of my body anymore (a feeling I had during the psychedelic experience) that made me almost have a second panic attack. Today I had an appointment for a scan and I asked my boyfriend to take me and to be there with me the whole time. I feel depersonalisation, as if everything around me was not real, and the whole time I was feeling scared of interacting with people because I didn't know if I would have started acting weird or panicking again. I am scared of being around people, I constantly feel muscle tension and anxiety (I tried to take a CBD pill yesterday and it didn't help, today I took Rescue Remedy, which is Bach flowers for anxiety and it didn't help). Every day I am getting more and more scared of myself, I don't know what is happening to me, I have never had panic attacks before and I am scared that my life, my business and my relationship can fall over because of this. I am just scared that I will never go back to normal and this thought is killing me. I feel unworthy of anything and a lot of bad thoughts often come to my mind.

If it might be relevant, when I was 18 to 20 I had a strong social anxiety, that I overcame working on myself and never consulting anyone. When I was 20 I started having eating disorders (light anorexia and bulimia and strong binge eating disorder) and I was prescribed with Lyrica (for generalized anxiety disorder) and was diagnosed with Cyclothymia. I stopped taking Lyrica at 26 because I felt like I was getting in control of my life after university and I started working on myself, doing physical activity, journaling etc... Of everything I have ever experienced on a psychological level, this is by far the worse and it's really hard to live like this. Less than one year ago my dad died after a long illness (15 years of Parkinson) and it felt like I was coping well with it, but after that trip, where I experienced death, I saw him when he was in the hospital and I experienced how he was feeling at the time, now I feel constantly anxious, as if I didn't deserve to be loved for all the mistakes I did in my life (like, when I was 18-27 I started partying a lot and becoming extremely superficial in order to escape the pain I was feeling for seeing my dad in pain, that was killing me inside and after so many years I feel like I am now facing the guilt of my whole life, when I tried to never stay close to him, and I just feel like I don't deserve love and I am a bad person).

Thank you for sharing so much of yourself and your experience with me. By any standard, what you experienced was traumatic and as such, it continues to limit and hurt you. This is not the first time you've wrestled with copious amounts of anxiety but the biggest problem with having a panic attack is that we then develop anxiety around when the next panic attack will hut. A few suggestions: If/when you experience a panic attack, the very first thing you should do is be still, breathe deeply, and tell yourself, "I am going to feel much better in a few minutes." Panic attacks feel like a heart attack and they feel like they last forever but in truth they last typically 5-15 minutes for the worst of it. Telling yourself you'll feel better doesn't mean you'll feel good - the idea is that you're going to be ok and by telling yourself this you insert a healthy perspective into something that simply feels debilitating and lethal. I HIGHLY recommend that you see a therapist who specializes in trauma recovery and you would very likely be an excellent candidate for EMDR therapy after a stabilizing brief course of therapy. Please email me if I can answer questions or be helpful. Best, Jim

Lightly edited for readability. This question was edited by AI for spelling, grammar, and formatting only — the contributor’s wording and meaning are unchanged. See how we moderate.

About the Expert

Jim LaPierre

LCSW, CCS

Brewer, United States of America

Specialties

Anger Management, Gay Lesbian Issues, Spirituality, Divorce, Compulsive Disorders, Trauma and PTSD, Life Coaching, Addiction or Substance Abuse, OCD, Mood Disorders, Parenting, Domestic Abuse or Domestic Violence, Anxiety or Fears, ADHD, Impulse Control Disorders, Relationship Issues, Women, Loss or Grief, Eating Disorders, Depression, Finding Your Purpose in Life

License

my_license #LC9830