What goes on chemically/biologically that the brain produces these profound ‘negative’ experiences in people? ~And also afterwards when people then experience flashbacks as a result…..
In: Biology
“Bad trips” aren’t really a biochemical thing per se. (And you don’t necessarily get flashbacks as a result.)
LSD is a serotonin mimic. It binds to certain serotonin receptors in the brain, but doesn’t act quite like real serotonin, so odd things happen. One of those odd things is that a part of the brain that acts kind of like a traffic cop keeping different areas of the brain from interacting much (the “default network”) seems to let a lot more signals through. So various parts of the brain that don’t usually interact much start to “talk” to each other.
One of the effects that might be a result of this is that LSD tends to amplify small thoughts or emotions that the user has, but might normally not even be very aware of. This quite often leads to some useful insights.
But it also means that if you get an unwanted feeling, such as anxiety, paranoia, or outright fear, things can spiral out of control. You get a small twinge of fear, for example. It can be triggered by something minor. But the feeling gets amplified, and your awareness that you are becoming afraid makes you even more afraid. That is what engineers call a “positive feedback loop”, and it’s usually a bad thing. Unless quelled, your fear can spiral out of control and you can experience a major panic attack, or even in severe cases a psychotic break. You are having a “bad trip”.
Having had a bad trip doesn’t cause flashbacks per se. But it can lead to a minor case of PTSD. Flashbacks are more a phenomenon related to [HPPD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_persisting_perception_disorder), which is not really associated with bad trips. You can get HPPD after nothing but great trips.
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