Set and setting

For the Bardo Pond album, see Set and Setting (album).

Set and setting describes the context for psychoactive and particularly psychedelic drug experiences: one's mindset and the setting in which the user has the experience. This is especially relevant for psychedelic experiences in either a therapeutic or recreational context. The term was coined by Norman Zinberg, and became widely accepted by researchers in psychedelic therapy.

"Set" is the mental state a person brings to the experience, like thoughts, mood and expectations. "Setting" is the physical and social environment. 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. Stress, fear, or a disagreeable environment, may result in an unpleasant experience (bad trip). Conversely, a relaxed, curious person in a warm, comfortable and safe place is more likely to have a pleasant experience.

Of course, the drug dose does not produce the transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key — it opens the mind, frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures. The nature of the experience depends almost entirely on set and setting. Set denotes the preparation of the individual, including his personality structure and his mood at the time. Setting is physical — the weather, the room's atmosphere; social — feelings of persons present towards one another; and cultural — prevailing views as to what is real. It is for this reason that manuals or guide-books are necessary. Their purpose is to enable a person to understand the new realities of the expanded consciousness, to serve as road maps for new interior territories which modern science has made accessible

— Timothy Leary, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead

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.

See also

• Altered state of consciousness
• Bad trip
• Counterculture of the 1960s
• Psychedelic psychotherapy
• Responsible drug use
• Sensory deprivation
• Trip sitter
• Out-of-body experience

References

1. ^ Shewan, D., Dalgarno, P. and Reith, G. (2000) "Perceived risk and risk reduction among ecstasy users: the role of drug, set, and setting" in International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol. 10, pp. 431–453
2. ^ Rosegrant, J. (1976) "The Impact of Set and Setting on Religious Experience in Nature" in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 301–310
3. ^ Metzner, R. (1989) "Molecular Mysticism: The Role of Psychoactive Substances in the Transformation of Consciousness" in The Gateway to Inner Space, (Prism Press: Dorset), 1989.
4. ^ Leary, T. (1966) "Programmed Communication During Experiences With DMT" first appearing in The Psychedelic Review, Issue 8, 1966.
5. Leary, T., Metzner, R. and Alpert, R. (1969) The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (London: Academic Press)

Further reading

• Zinberg, N. E. (1984) Drug, Set, And Setting: The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use (New Haven: Yale University Press) ISBN 0-300-03110-6
• Why the Scientific and Medical Establishments Have Such Biased Approaches to Psychedelics Ido Hartogsohn, Alternet, July 17, 2013.