On Programming Psychedelic Experiences

A psychedelic experience is a period of intensely ditions of the experience -the physical and heightened reactivity to sensory stimuli from emotional climate of the room, the relations of within and without. A "programmed" psychethe voyager to others present, and particularly delic experience is one in which the sequence the attitude of the drug-giving parson. It is by and patterning of stimuli are not left to chance now a well-known fact that psychedelic drugs but are arranged in a predetermined manner, may produce religious, aesthetic, therapeutic or Using progamming we try to control the content other kinds of experiences depending on the set of a psychedelic experience in specific desired and setting. This hypothesis accounts for the directions. The program is a voyage chart, a great variety of psychedelic experiences reported series of signals, which, like the pilot's radio, by investigators using different models (psychoprovides the basic orienting information required tomimetic, therapeutic, religious, aesthetic, etc.) ) for the "trip". The program need not be followed and correspondingly different settings. exactly, but it con be of great help in orienting oneself in unfamiliar territory or finding one's One may object to the idea of programming a way if lost in rough weather, psychedelic experience on the grounds that it would tend to limit or restrict the experience. To The idea of programming a psychedelic experithis the answer is that one can of course include ence is based on a theory about the nature of as much "free" time on the program as desired. the psychedelic effect. The hypothesis, which For example, a minimum program might consist was first put forward by Leary in the Harvard of a half-hour of re-entry instructions, with the Psilocybin ProjectI and has since been widely rest of the time left open. Furthermore it should accepted by scientists working in the field of be remembered that the psychedelic experience, psychedelic research2, is that the content of a because of the extreme suggestibility of the psychedelic experience is chiefly determined by voyager, is "programmed" anyway, by the Photo: AllenXh,ell i the two factors of set and setting. "Set" refers stimuli to which he is exposed during the session. _, to the internal state of the person having the In the majority of sessions the stimuli are either experience -his mood, expectations, fears, arranged by the drug-giving person or left to wishes; "setting" refers to the external conchance. We propose a third alternative: that the