Does The Trip Get Tougher With Age? Life’s Impact on Psychedelic Responses

Lastly, accessibility to safe, supportive settings becomes crucial, especially as the motivations and physical considerations of older users change. Services like those provided by psychedelic facilitators for safe usage offer guidance and controlled environments. 

While many young people certainly prefer more introspective environments and many elders gravitate toward excitement, we have found the stated generalizations to be true in the majority of cases and relevant to how age could inadvertently alter trip quality and experience.

Research on Age & Psychedelic Use: Does It Match Public Consensus?

When browsing for public opinion on this topic, we found two primary arguments for why people believe that psychedelic trips are more manageable either at older ages or at younger ages. 

One common thought is that tripping gets easier with age because of a lack of emotional maturity or resilience in younger journeyers. Contrastingly, many believe tripping is smoother when you’re young, because of the lack of accumulation of emotional baggage which is present in older demographics.

However, one study by Ko and Colleagues conducted just in 2023 found that “age was negatively correlated with intensity of challenging experience,” meaning that older journeyers experienced fewer intense, challenging journeys in comparison to younger subjects. 

One hypothesis of their study was that “increased age will positively predict the intensity of psilocybin-induced mystical experience and negatively predict the intensity of challenging experience” See the graph below for their results:

Note: The experience of a “bad trip,” which is referred to in the study as “dread of ego dissolution,” was indicated as having lower scores in higher age categories, and, interestingly, the highest DED scores seemed to center around ages of 20s to 30s and then tapering off steadily.

Another piece of research by Studerus and colleagues from back in 2012 utilized a “5-factor model of personality…including openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extroversion” to compare older and younger test subjects for various trip outcomes.

The study found that “compared to younger subjects, older subjects reported less Impaired Control and Cognition and also showed a trend for more Blissful State.” You can see below the graph of results for a more thorough look at outcomes.

According to these results, you can look forward to overall more manageable and pleasant psychedelic experiences the older you get, but keep in mind that after prolonged use, sometimes the medicine lets you know when you’re done with it and it’s done with you!

Summarizing the Pros & Cons of Doing Psychedelics When Young or Old

Before we jump into this section, we invite you to check out our past article on the proper age to start psychedelics, because this previously addresses separate questions around when is too young in considering neurological development, hormonal stabilization, and many other physiological factors which can impact when young is too young for psychedelic use.

Moving on to the pros and cons of starting psychedelics young (after the minimum age) or in later stages of life, we thought these concise points might be helpful. 

Given that there is no research stating that psychedelic use is harmful in young adulthood (to the contrary), our prior points merely highlight that psychedelic use may get easier with age yet is still therapeutic at all appropriate ages.

Why Start Now?: Pros to Tripping Young

• • Greater Malleability: Characterized by neural plasticity, receptivity, openness, and adaptability allow young trippers to have experiences with profound and lasting effects, with more room to bend without breaking.

• • Exploratory Spirit: Characterized by a heightened sense of curiosity and willingness to explore both their external world and their internal landscapes. This exploratory drive can make psychedelic experiences particularly rich, as they often seek out new, intense experiences that challenge their understanding of the world and themselves.

• • Carefree Approach: With fewer responsibilities and past negative experiences than older, younger individuals might find it easier to engage in experiences that require significant time and mental space. This carefree attitude allows for a more relaxed approach to psychedelics.

• • Heightened Sensitivity: Young people typically need a smaller dose in comparison to older trippers in order to reach their desired threshold. This heightened sensitivity obviously affects the intensity of the trip and allows for a deep and intimate exploration of the experience.

Why Wait?: Pros to Tripping Later in Life 

• • Greater Stability: Stronger, sturdier, and resilient, older trippers may be better equipped to handle strong emotions and complex insights that arise.

• • Bigger Picture: Having lived through more phases of life, their broad perspective can enrich the insights gained. This depth of understanding can provide a fuller appreciation of life’s complexity and beauty.

• • Lower Intensity: As seen in the studies highlighted in this article, older trippers experience lower intensity trips on average than their younger counterparts, and it’s not hard to imagine why that could be appealing, especially to someone fresh to the world of psychedelics.

• • Uprooting Foundations: Older adults have established long-held patterns of thought and behavior, and psychedelics can offer a unique opportunity to reevaluate and revise. Whereas psychedelics in youth affect the laying of the foundation, later use aims to uproot and make room for something new.

One of the beautiful things about psychedelic exploration later in life is the opportunity for positive impacts while allowing for a gentler and more grounded experience.