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American Trip

Ido Hartogsohn

The MIT Press eBooks July 14, 2020 DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11888.001.0001 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Historical analysis Peer reviewed
Topics Psilocybin
Keywords Counterculture Context archaeology Mindset Politics Aesthetics Psychoanalysis Art history Epistemology Law Hallucinogen
Citations 34
Key points Argues that the psychedelic experience in midcentury America was shaped by historical, social, and cultural forces, and proposes the concept of 'collective set and setting' to explain how the era's context created conditions for a distinctive 'American trip.'

Abstract

How historical, social, and cultural forces shaped the psychedelic experience in midcentury America, from CIA LSD experiments the Harvard Psilocybin Project. Are psychedelics invaluable therapeutic medicines, or dangerously unpredictable drugs that precipitate psychosis? Tools for spiritual communion or cognitive enhancers that spark innovation? Activators for one's private muse or part of a political movement? In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers studied psychedelics in all these incarnations, often arriving at contradictory results. In American Trip, Ido Hartogsohn examines how the psychedelic experience in midcentury America was shaped by historical, social, and cultural forces—by set (the mindset of the user) and setting (the environments in which the experience takes place). He explores uses of psychedelics that range from CIA and military experimentation to psychedelic-inspired styles in music, fashion, design, architecture, and film. Along the way, he introduces us to a memorable cast of characters including Betty Eisner, a psychologist who drew on her own experience to argue for the therapeutic potential of LSD, and Timothy Leary, who founded the Harvard Psilocybin Project and went on to become psychedelics' most famous advocate. Hartogsohn chronicles these developments in the context of the era's cultural trends, including the cold war, the counterculture, the anti-psychiatric movement, and the rise of cybernetics. Drawing on insights from the study of science, technology, and society, he develops the idea of LSD as a suggestible technology, the properties of which are shaped by suggestion. He proposes the concept of collective set and setting, arguing that the historical and sociocultural context of midcentury America offered a particular set and setting—creating the conditions for what he calls the American trip.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on psilocybin, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics 2019 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Psychedelics as Medicines: An Emerging New Paradigm General population 2016 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Theorizing that Psychedelic Assisted Therapy May Play a Role in the Treatment of Trauma-Induced Personality Disorders. 2024 Theoretical or philosophical paper
What Geometric Visual Hallucinations Tell Us about the Visual Cortex 2002 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Psilocybin-assisted therapy of major depressive disorder using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a therapeutic frame 2020 Theoretical or philosophical paper

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