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Set and setting

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Set and setting describes the context for drug experiences: one's mindset and the setting in which the user has his experience. This dyad is especially relevant for psychedelic or hallucinogenic experiences; the term was coined by Timothy Leary.

Contents

[edit] The Basics

The set is the mental state a person brings to the experience: thoughts, mood, expectations, and so on. The setting is location, not only physically but socially. Social support networks have been shown to be particularly important in the outcome of any trip [1]. Each element is an important criterion in the experience of a "trip", which can result beautifully or horribly, subject in high degree to the user's set and setting. They have some power, both conscious and subconscious, to control or guide the course of their experience. Stress about what is going to take place, or a disagreeable environment, may result in a bad trip; conversely, a relaxed, enthusiastic user in a warm, safe place is more likely to have a good trip.

   
Set and setting
 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.
   
Set and setting
(from: The Psychedelic Experience)

Set and setting has also been investigated from a religious perspective [2].

Psychadelic drone/sludge band Bardo Pond named their 1999 album Set and Setting, continuing a career-long trend of giving their albums drug-related titles.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  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

[edit] References

  1. Leary, T., Metzner, R. and Alpert, R. (1969) The Psychedelic Expereince: A Manual Based on the. Tibetan Book of the Dead (London: Academic Press)

[edit] Further reading

  1. Zinberg, N. E. (1984) Drug, Set, and Setting (New Haven: Yale University Press) ISBN 0-300-03110-6de:Set_und_Setting
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