Imprinting: expanding the extra-pharmacological model of psychedelic drug action to incorporate delayed influences of sets and settings
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience July 18, 2023 Nicolas Garel, Julien Thibault Lévesque, Dasha A. Sandra et al. 29 citations
Past environmental exposures can significantly shape psychedelic drug experiences and their therapeutic outcomes, a concept the authors call 'imprinting.' In a clinical trial of ketamine for treatment-resistant depression, two patients' subjective experiences were altered by the type and amount of digital media they consumed in the days before treatment: higher media exposure reduced mystical and emotional qualities of the ketamine experience, overriding standard intention-setting practices and changing therapeutic results. Eight additional patients spontaneously reported past environmental exposures manifesting as visual hallucinations during ketamine sessions. Similar imprinting effects appear in historical reports of other psychedelic drugs and in dreaming. The authors propose expanding the contextual model of psychedelic action to include imprinting, which may help clinicians and researchers better understand these drug effects.