On high dose's of Cannabis Sativa and on a low dose of Salvia D. I experienced time dilation, meaning for me, my perception of time slowed down. And I just so happen to get stuck into a negative thought loop.

My questions are: What is the purpose of time dilation & thought loops during an altered state of consciousness? What is it for? How dose one deal/work with it when it comes up?

They seem to be common with mushrooms as well.

Have you tried simply splashing some cold water on your face during one of these loops? It can be very grounding.

Having some experience with meditation would be helpful in dealing with thought loops.

Psychedelics dissolve the concept of time, ime. One purpose is to dissolve your inner boundaries in one way or another. I think it's important to pay attention to this phenomena.

As already described above, meditation can really help out with negative thought loops. Looping is another natural effect of some psychedelics and can be incredibly positive/profound changes once observed in the right state. A lot of what you normally would think about tends to loop during these experiences but with a higher intelligence and unity. Sometimes life-changing new ideas and solutions.

Be with it and perhaps write your thoughts on paper during these experiences.

Thank you everyone for your response, It helps a lot

Some of my very first trips with psychedelics (Cubenis-Shooting Stars in-particular) were riddled with reality/time loops. It was my first "lesson" that psychedelics taught me. My take on it is they are trying to show us naked apes that time is cyclical.

All the calenders and clocks the western world is obsessed with don't seem nearly as important or as accurate as we tell ourselves. Somewhere along the way there seems evidence we've lost track of our planet's circadian rhythm.

I've experienced time distortion with several psychedelics: LSD and Mescaline have slowed time down for me, Ayahuasca made it seem faster/more fluid/more real (words.. so inadequate).

Thought loops only on LSD. And only in high doses. I think it might related to the very palpable stimulation at high(er) doses.

I dunno man, I've read somewhere that the time slowing down could be due to the brain being in a "higher gear" during the experience.

Personally I've enjoyed both modalities tremendously, and particularly for time slowing down, it always feels magical, mystical, sacred, special.. an opportunity to savor eternity and revel in the beauty of everything.

I used to have reoccurring trips which were a result of lustful thinking and having a subconscious mind highly influenced by pornography, the way i viewed sex, and the women i attracted in my life whom had slept with a fair few guys. As a result, i would experience these thought loops and get extremely frustrated, upset and angry at myself for the fact that i was having these experiences. It didn't help it, but only made it worse. But one needs to suffer until they realise they are the result of their own suffering. Try to observe your thoughts without attaching to them and having an opinion about if they're positive or negative, try and listen to the sounds going around you, observe the sound of a bird calling out, a car moving past, a plane flying over your head, the chatter of the old lady upstairs. Or focus on a smell, or a feeling, but just observe it. If it feels dense, don't go down that road, don't attach, just observe, if it feels light, and you feel like you're floating on a cloud, then you know that you're becoming present. Trust yourself… Know yourself… Look within, go within your mind… to transcend the mind you must know yourself… who are you, what works for you?

This helped me a lot - "You ask why, i ask why not" Examine that in an experience. Instead of saying "why is this happing to me, whats the point of all of this" Start saying "why not me, why should this be a negative experience, what is the difference between a positive and negative experience, why is it positive, why is it negative" You'll find at the start, you'll be asking questions and then you'll attach to the thought such as "Why is it positive" then you start thinking about it, until you loop, but try to think without attaching to that thought.

I hope this helped, its pretty much what everyone said, meditation, it helps, the what is, is what you are looking for, your experience is the most real thing there is, in this moment. The sounds, the sensations, the smells, the tastes, the sights… It is all there for you to experience, what is there to fear in that? Much love, remember bro, you will always learn from your experiences, then let them go

Purpose? I don't know about the 'purpose,' but psychedelics do something to your internal clock. They've done studies on people who have been dosed with psilocybin and found that your entire perception of time slows down. They asked people to tap out 4/4 beats on a table both sober and under the influence and found that across the board, psilocybin slowed the preferred tapping rate of subjects. I imagine it has something to do with changes in the rate and nature of information flow in the cerebral cortex.

As for thought loops, like others have said, meditation helps. So does changing your environment or doing something distracting (I find that art is great for this).

I think they're probably related to the OCD-like phenomena of intrusive or looping throughs (5-HT agonists and SSRIs have both been shown to attenuate them in OCD sufferers).

Just a quick comment, i haven't read the thread; I think disassociating yourself from the thought itself and the entire experience or loop makes it much less invasive and intense. Zen meditation is useful. Focusing on the breath is a perfect practice for this. Since I have picked this up I haven't had any experience affect me emotionally in any negative way.