How to Navigate Difficult Psychedelic Experiences

Challenging experiences are always a possibility when using psychedelics. These may occur after a string of several positive and glowing experiences, but they can occur the first time as well. Essentially, the risk of them increases when there is a lack of attention paid to set and setting – that is, everything you bring to…

View Post

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on a Psychedelic Experience

‘Set’ – what you as an individual bring to a psychedelic experience – plays a significant role in how a specific trip will turn out. This one half of ‘set and setting’ (the latter encompassing environmental factors) is often framed as your mood and emotional state going into an experience. Do you feel positive and…

View Post

Book Review: The Psychedelic Handbook by Rick Strassman

Dr Rick Strassman, currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, is one of the leading pioneers of modern psychedelic research. His studies on DMT, which took place between 1990 and 1995, broke the 20-year gap in psychedelic research. This halting of prolific and promising inquiry was because the US…

View Post

The Paradox of ‘Set’: Conflicting Messages About Tripping When in a Bad Mood

One of the most common pieces of advice you’ll hear when it comes to tripping is not to take psychedelics if you’re in a negative frame of mind. This is encompassed by the concept of ‘set and setting’, with the first half – ‘set’ – referring to the fact that one’s mindset can influence the…

View Post

Can Psychedelics Make People More Drawn to Conspiracy Theories?

It is widely known that psychedelics and cannabis are associated with non-conventional thinking. The way that these psychoactive substances change how people think – including cannabis, which can have mild and sometimes profound psychedelic effects – can be viewed with serious interest; psychedelics can, after all, alter people’s metaphysical beliefs, including those of psychologists and…

View Post