Beyond psychedelics: set and setting in general psychiatric practice.
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England) December 1, 2024 Zofia Kozak, Christopher W T Miller 7 citations
Psychedelic compounds are gaining interest as potential treatments for psychiatric disorders. Although most psychiatrists will not directly administer these drugs, psychedelic research offers lessons that can improve conventional care. Central to this is the concept of 'set and setting'—the importance of mindset and environment for therapeutic outcomes. New findings suggest mechanistic overlap between psychedelics and serotonergic antidepressants: both modulate neurotrophins, enhance neuroplasticity, and reopen critical learning periods, shaped by environmental context. The paper argues that integrating insights from psychedelic research, particularly set and setting, can improve depression treatment in traditional psychiatric settings by optimizing non-pharmacological factors such as high-quality psychotherapy.