Set and setting

History

According to the 2018 book How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, the concept of set and setting was observed by the "Johnny Appleseed" of LSD, Al Hubbard, visiting mushroom ceremonies in Mexico. The terms were used at least as early as 1958 by Ludwig von Bertalanffy and popularized by Timothy Leary in 1961, and became widely accepted by researchers in psychedelic therapy. Norman Zinberg also extensively discussed this in Drug, Set, and Setting: The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use (1984).

Due to the importance of setting in early psychedelic therapy, Hubbard introduced a "treatment space decorated to feel more like a home than a hospital", which came to be known as a "Hubbard Room".

In 1966, Timothy Leary conducted a series of experiments with dimethyltryptamine (DMT) with controlled set and setting. The aim was to see whether DMT, which had then been mostly thought of as a terror-inducing drug, could produce pleasant experiences under a supportive set and setting. It was found that it could.

Set and setting has also been investigated from a religious perspective.

The concept of set and setting has more recently been extended beyond psychedelics. Zinberg "sought to integrate the ideas of set and setting into a theory of harm reduction which examined not only psychedelic use but also drugs such as alcohol, cocaine, and heroin" and, more recently, the concept has been used to understand the circumstances of opioid overdoses.

In the essay Dopo il Rinascimento psichedelico (After the psychedelic Renaissance), italian writer Vanni Santoni has suggested the existence of a third factor influencing any psychedelic experience besides set and setting: "framing", that is to say the historical and socio-political context.

Practice

Social support networks have shown to be particularly important in the outcome of the psychedelic experience. They are able to control or guide the course of the experience, both consciously and subconsciously. A relaxed, curious person in a warm, comfortable and safe place is more likely to have a pleasant experience. Stress, fear, a disagreeable material, social, and cultural environment, including situations of racism or discrimination, may result in an unpleasant experience (bad trip). In case of a bad trip, a trip killer may be used to abort the trip.

Research has shown that a curated [music playlist can be part of a favourable setting. Set and setting are critical in the design of psychiatric facilities and modalities of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies.

References

References

1. Hartogsohn, Ido. (2017). "Constructing drug effects: A history of set and setting". Drug Science, Policy and Law.
2. Zinberg, N. E.. (1984). "Drug, Set, and Setting: The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use". Yale University Press.
3. (1958). "Ataractic and Hallucinogenic Drugs in Psychiatry: Report of a Study Group". [[World Health Organization]].
4. Pollan, Michael. (15 May 2018). "How to Change Your Mind". Penguin.
5. (1966). "Programmed Communication During Experiences With DMT". The Psychedelic Review.
6. (1976). "The Impact of Set and Setting on Religious Experience in Nature". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
7. (2020). "Circumstances of overdose among street-involved, opioid-injecting women: Drug, set, and setting". International Journal of Drug Policy.
8. https://minimaetmoralia.it/interventi/sulla-differenza-ontologica-degli-psichedelici-dalle-altre-sostanze/
9. (2000). "Perceived risk and risk reduction among ecstasy users: the role of drug, set, and setting". International Journal of Drug Policy.
10. Neitzke-Spruill, Logan. (2019-09-19). "Race as a component of set and setting: How experiences of race can influence psychedelic experiences". Journal of Psychedelic Studies.
11. (2021). "Ethical and legal issues in psychedelic harm reduction and integration therapy". [[Harm Reduction Journal]].
12. Suran, Melissa. (2024-02-27). "Study Finds Hundreds of Reddit Posts on “Trip-Killers” for Psychedelic Drugs". JAMA.
13. "Research Portal".
14. Naftulin, Julia. (2020-11-06). "Listen: The playlist scientists used to unlock 'elevated states of consciousness' in people tripping on 'magic' mushrooms for a research study".
15. (2020-12-29). "Set and Setting: A Randomized Study of Different Musical Genres in Supporting Psychedelic Therapy". [[American Chemical Society]].
16. Lhooq, Michelle. (2021-10-22). "Countdown to ecstasy: how music is being used in healing psychedelic trips".
17. Noorani, Tehseen. (2021). "Containment Matters: Set and Setting in Contemporary Psychedelic Psychiatry". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology.