How To Tripsit Online

This is a guide to Tripsitting online, primarily guided around doing so in TripSit's #tripsit channel, though most tips should be transferable to most tripsitting scenarios.

Greeting a user

Greet users with a simple, calm and neutral phrase such as "hello, how are you?" If the user requires some help, make sure you first gain from them an understanding of exactly what drug(s) they are on, at what dosages and how long it was since they took them (always better to ask the user to list all of the drugs he is on even though the problem seems to only be coming from one of them). You can use ~welcome to greet new users, but we recommend using your own words as it feels more human than automated response.

If a user is online, and not getting too much into convo, then don't idle- they might think that no one is listening to them and leave. When possible, try to greet the user as soon as they enter the room (you can use the ~gettripsitentries command to help with this!).

How To Deal with Various Situations

Panic attack

The most important thing to keep in mind is that panic attacks are not dangerous. They usually originate from a negative thought loop and can be stopped by reminding the 'victim' that they are in no danger whatsoever. Usually a short period of breathing exercise (30s) will be able to 'break the cycle' in terms of the thought loop and you will be able to move them onto another subject. Ask the user to shut their eyes, breathe slowly and deeply and clear their mind of everything but their breathing for thirty seconds - and reassure them that once they have done this they will be feeling much better.

Remember, panic attacks are uncomfortable but not dangerous. Failing being able to perform meditation, suggest a change of setting - this can be done most easily by suggesting the user goes to get a glass of water. See our page on panic attacks for more specific information on dealing with a panic attack.

Possible Overdose

Ascertain whether just panic attack, and beyond that recommend nothing other than seeking immediate medical attention. We aren't doctors. You should be able to use our resources (or failing that, Google) to quickly ascertain whether a dose is dangerous. Don't freak out trippers by saying they may be in danger when they're on, for example, ~1500ug of 25-I-NBOMe (high dose but not dangerous). Get some background from the tripper; 4g of paracetamol (Acetaminophen) won't harm most of the people but if someone already has problems with their liver it is really dangerous.

There is no way to be certain of a users pre-existing tolerance to any one drug and what they say might be nothing more than their perceived tolerance to said drug. As a result, every individual is different. Potential overdoses for one may be a safe recreational dose for another (more tolerant) individual. This means that there is no guaranteed way to know if one is at a significant risk of death from a potential overdose, which is why recommending seeking medical attention is the best thing to do at that point.

See our page on overdoses for more specific information.

Bad Trip

Use your imagination to find something relevant that the tripper finds interesting. Engage them in a subject they find interesting! The most useful defence a tripper can have against bad trips is the ability to change the setting. Changing the music, the lighting, the room or just about anything can have a huge influence on the mindset of a person who is tripping and this makes it an invaluable technique. Consider also that challenging moments in a trip can be an incredible opportunity for the development of one's character and you may come to the conclusion that many others have - that benzos are great but really ought to be a last resort.

You can draw a parallel outside of the context of illegal drug use to those that drink heavily when times get tough. Instead of dealing with the hurdles that life presents they retreat to the bar, and they tend to be very immature as a result.

We also have a full guide on how to deal with a bad trip.

Stimulant Induced Panic

Ask the user how much they’ve taken to assess it isn’t dangerous. Find out how long they’ve been awake, inquire about their food and water intake. In nearly all cases they’ve neglected these. Reassure them the panic will go away when the negligence has been mended. Make the user drink juice, gatorade, other isotonic beverages or water; ideally eat a full meal as well. Fruit, bananas in particular, can be acceptable if the user is too stimulated to eat and in worst case scenarios they can drink water mixed with a pinch of salt to retain the water better. It can be hard for the user to disengage and follow through due to the stimulation. Be adamant, but gentle. The ~breathe command can help them calm down. If the user has started to rehydrate and eat you can start suggesting soothing music. When the user has calmed down and rehydrated suggest they get some sleep to fully recover. A few food items that’s easy to eat is: shakes, soups or smoothies.

More information about Stimulant Harm Reduction Here

Suicidal Users

If a user is suicidal, check if they're on drugs or coming down. Try and calm them down to the best of your ability using the techniques described in the Bad Trip section. Use your best judgment, but remember we're not mental health professionals and we're not equipped to deal with these situations properly. If you feel their state isn't improving try to figure out what country they're from and direct them to call a suicide hotline, as they know how to help them much better than we do. Tripbot has the command: ~suicide that links to Suicidal Users Referrals. If all attempts fail please contact a staff member.

Finding and Providing Information

There is a wealth of useful information which can help provide you and a tripsitee with information on our Wiki or our other resources. You can either browse the Wiki itself at http://wiki.tripsit.me, or various important articles are also stored in tripbot quotes, such as ~stimulant comedowns. You can get bite-sized information about certain drugs and classes of drug in-channel with the '~drug drugname' command. For example, '~drug mdma dose'. You can also get a link to a nice web-page with all the information about a single drug with, for example: ~factsheet 2cb. For a quick overview of drug combinations check out our Drug Combination Chart

What to Avoid

• Giving incorrect advice and information. No information is usually better than wrong information. Don't be afraid to ask fellow tripsitters for input when you cannot give correct advice. If you don't know the substance, direct the user to Erowid or get the info yourself and provide it. If there are no other staff members around feel free to ask in #drugs, there are usually people willing to help! in case of an emergency. Don't hesitate to use the command "~tripsit username" replacing "username" with the username of the tripper in need of help. This will notify people on the network.
• Being too talkative to the user, if you can try to let them guide the conversation so they're as comfortable as possible - try to keep the channel relatively un-busy (use the ~busy command!).
• Crowding a user. If the room is already busy and a tripper is already being attended to by 2-3 people then leave it be.
• Try not to express much surprise or confusion at how a tripper is feeling - avoid phrases like "I'm surprised you're still feeling this 20 hours on." Remember, the primary aim is reassurance.
• Negativity. Try to keep all discussion positive and as upbeat as possible. Being a stick in the mud is no good when people around you are tripping.
• Awkward or negative wording - It is obvious that negative input is clearly to be avoided when dealing with a "bad trip" situation, but it is easy to overlook how much of an impact the wording of your advice has on the tripper's mind. Avoid words with a generally negative conotation (for example, panic, death, etc...) and replace them with words that are easier to handle for a tripping brain. For example, "don't panic" can easily be replaced by "stay calm," which is more soothing. Keep wording simple and easy to understand.
• Avoid suggesting the use of harder drugs unless the situation is considered an emergency, or is too severe for any tripsitter to handle. A common example in a tripsitting situation is the suggestion of benzos to kill a trip - in most cases this is entirely unnecessary, and a good bit of personal tripsitting is all a user needs to be calmed.

Other Useful Links

• A quick intro guide to how the chat works and its commands
• A list of Tripbot commands
• A list of Trip Toys (you can link to a random one with ~triptoy)