About a month ago I accidentally took a much larger dose than I was planning on (should've cleaned my pipe..) and had a very overwhelming trip. I was unable to understand anything of what was going on and tried to calm down, accept and let go but I couldn't stop trying to resist the effects. In some sense this worked, but what remained was a very uninsightful bad trip. Generally I can pin down why I get a bad trip and learn something out of it, but there was really nothing meaningful I could extract from this experience..

My next trip was 2 weeks later and equally empty and meaningless. I think I am still resisting the effects as a sort of 'mental reflex'. Can anyone relate or have some advice about how to overcome this?

learn to meditate. Clear your head. Stay in this mindset as long as possible and try again.
Mental clutter comes out in force during a fine trip. Having no expectations helps.

Wish I could say more, but I'm here in this head and you are there in yours.

good luck,
rw

First take a longer break if need be.

Then if there is still an issue try a smaller dose and work your way up again.
Our bodies change and the amount we need decreases for some people and increases for other people. For me I need a good bit less now than we I first started using it.

Peace.

My friend Koala had this experience too. He had smoked a joint with tobacco, Cannabis & DMT as he often does.
After only 3 tokes he was quite heavily transitioning into DMT realms. He found his body & mind overcome with
an unpleasant overload of energy, alot of tention. He wondered why this was and just as he did he noticed
he was laying on his back with his arms covering his face, as if trying to hold of an approaching enemy.

He immediately laughed at his neanderthal-like, instinctive protective reaction and instead took
on a body-posture that symbolised surrender: He stopped trying to shield off "something" with his hands,
relaxed flat on his back and lay his arms at his side. All the tention was gone, seemingly just by changing
his body posture.

I would just like to follow up because other people might learn from my experiences. I smoked DMT twice since my last post. Just to put things in to perspective, I usually take about 15-25mg (I guess I'm a lightweight), and the time I "overdosed" I probably had 35-45mg. The first time I took 12mg. I meditated a bit beforehand and focused on accepting everything that would come up. Still had quite an uneasy trip, mostly just flashbacks to my overdose. Still felt like I was suppressing things. Yesterday I tried something different with 18mg. Instead of passively accepting and letting go (or actively resisting, of course), I actively tried to "trip as hard as possible".

During the launch for example, instead of the usual "I hope I'll be all right" I thought "Let's see how fast this roller coaster can go!". Instead of being annoyed by the DMT whirring, bleeping and humming I always experience I tried to amplify the sounds.

This put me back in control and for the first time ever, I wasn't bothered by anything. Even before my overdose I often felt uneasy, especially during the coming up and start of plateau, feelings as "what have I done to myself" and "what am I doing here". I guess the coming down part used to be the best for me. By actively trying to experience as much of the psychedelic as was possible, I completely skipped this phase and had a very meaning- and insightful trip, possibly my best one to date.

Digging it and getting down and dirty is a great way to go. To sit meekly and humbly in observation or to cloister up try and "deal" can be good in their time, but I've always found it to leave a lot lacking.... When I really dig it, get in it, and unabashedly enjoy myself and make what I will of the experience, it's so much more powerful. Going full-force into any task is psychedelic enough, but with DMT it's a whole new ballgame... and it can save you a lot of spice: Small doses (even 3-5mgs) in the proper setting and state of mind can be as effective as moderate to large doses in other situations.

Glad to hear you've found something that works for you, Cheers!
Hg

I can definitely relate. I had a bad trip on mushrooms about 9 years ago, a bad time in my life that ended up being the beginning of a two year addiction to heroin. I had several more bad trips on san pedro over the next month that scared me away from psychedelics for a good 7 years. I have began experimenting with small doses of psychs here and there, and everytime I start to feel the effects I experience a mental recital of how I felt on mushrooms 9 years ago and begin trying to resist the effect.

Practice living in the now, a method some call 'mindfulness'. Resist the urge to judge your thoughts and emotions at all times, and focus only on what is; not what has been or could be. I have found that the more present I become in everyday activities, the less judgmental/agitated I become with myself while in a psychedelic state (not to mention all the other benefits, I will refrain from side-tracking the conversation).

I speak from a position of struggle with this myself; I do not claim to have conquered counter-productive ego drivel.

Check out a CD called 'Inner Talk' by Eldon Taylor. Basic premise: positive uplifting statements are played at very low volume over a peaceful soundtrack can re-train our inner voice to speak positively rather than negatively to us (i.e., "I am completely comfortable in situations where I may not be in control". I have been curious as to how this would affect me while in a more impressionable state than 'ordinary' consciousness. I've listened to it for a few minutes here and there while driving to work, but got bored with it before noticing a difference in my 'inner talk'.

Hm, Wow! That is the mindset I took after that bad trip I just described "Shit, I hope I don't take too much, I'll just try and relax if anything negative comes up"... Maybe it's time to throw my hands up on the coaster instead of gripping the handle bars!

I am not surprised to hear this. It seems that part of the experience is bravery as well as letting go.

i've always found the best way (for me, at least) to deal with a bad trip is to treat it just like falling off a horse... you gotta get back up & ride again, or the thing owns you...

common wisdom is probably to take a longer break when this happens... i go the exact opposite way... i take breaks from DMT after the powerful GOOD experiences... & it seems to keep the bad ones at bay...

i kind of have problems with this as well. i've thought of just totally giving in thinking like the OP but then i feel like "what if giving in will have negative implications for my soul" or shit like that lol. i have problems with the "just do it" mentality in many aspects in my life...