Can you kill a bad trip?: 5 Questions for emergency physician Gregory Yates

Trip killers aim to end or reduce psychedelic effects early, but there is no agreed scientific definition and academic evidence remains limited. Emergency physician Gregory Yates shares how he became interested after seeing a case involving 2C-B combined with monoamine oxidase inhibitors and the use of cyproheptadine as a serotonin-blocking attempt to calm the experience. He discusses his 2024 study that mined Reddit posts to identify what people use online when trips go wrong. Across about 700 relevant posts from 128 threads, the most common “trip killer” categories were benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, and antidepressants, with alprazolam, diazepam, and quetiapine frequently named. Yates warns that suggested doses can be dangerous: benzodiazepine overdosing can cause coma, respiratory depression, and low blood pressure, while antipsychotics raise risks like potentially fatal arrhythmias. He also cautions that self-treating can delay real medical care, and that street benzodiazepines are often misdosed or adulterated, making outcomes unpredictable.