A Delphi consensus study with 89 experts from 17 countries identified 30 extra-pharmacological variables that are important or very important for reporting the setting in psychedelic clinical trials. These variables, forming the ReSPCT guidelines, cover physical environment, dosing session procedure, therapeutic framework and protocol, and subjective experiences. The findings reveal significant ambiguities in current conceptualizations of set and setting. The guidelines provide a new standard for designing and documenting contextual factors in psychedelic research.
Anthropological research on consciousness, particularly that published in the journal Anthropology of Consciousness, has had limited impact on mainstream anthropology partly because contributors often overlook the discipline's historical roots. The subfield of ethnometaphysics, coined by anthropologist A. Irving Hallowell, never gained traction like ethnobotany or ethnomusicology. By revisiting ethnometaphysics and using the example of Western debates over whether to call psychoactive substances hallucinogens or entheogens, the author argues that the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness can reframe its alternative perspective as less radical, thereby increasing its chances of influencing mainstream anthropology.