The Relation of Expectation and Mood to Psilocybin Reactions: A Questionnaire Study
RALPH METZNER, GEORGE UTWIN & GUNTHER M. WEIL
1965
In the rapidly growing literature on the effects of the “hallucinogenic” or “consciousness-altering” drugs increasing attention is being paid to the role of non-pharmacological variables. Several authors have pointed to the importance of personality variables in determining drug reactions, and recently these have become the object of systematic study (e.g., Kornetsky and Humphries, 1957; von Fel- singer. Lasagna and Beecher, 1955; DiMascio, Rinkel and Leiber- man, 1961). Others have emphasized the importance of the physical and social environment (e.g., Hyde, 1960) and the attitude and expectations of the researcher (e.g., Malitz et al., 1960). The role of these non-drug factors in drug-reaction patterns has recently been reviewed through extracts from the literature by DiMascio and Kierman (1960) and Unger (1963).
In a previous study (Leary et al., 1963) it was found that by deliberately arranging the setting to be warm, supportive and free from distractions, experiences with psilocybin were produced that 70% of the subjects (N = 98) described as “very pleasant” or “ecstatic,” and 62% claimed changed their lives for the better. These results are consistent with findings by Ditman et al. (1962) on claims following LSD. The degree of pleasantness and change was directly correlated with the perceived supportiveness and warmth of the situation. There was also evidence that the pre-drug expectations and mood of the subject were highly correlated with his post-drug reactions. This evidence was not definitive (a) because all information about pre-drug states was obtained after the experience and therefore presumably subject to a “halo” effect; and (b) because the questionnaire used covered only dimensions such as pleasantness and amount of learning and was non-specific as to content.
The present study was therefore designed to measure the subjects’ expectations before the experiment and to correlate these with post-drug responses. Measures of some situational and constitutional variables were also included in the study in order to assess to what extent they affect the pre-drug expectations and the post-drug responses. The hypotheses to be tested were:
(1) The “set” of the subject affects the content of the experience: a positive, relaxed “set” will tend to lead to pleasant experiences and closeness to the other participants; and conversely, an anxious and negative “set” will tend to lead to fearful experiences and distrust or suspicion of the other participants.
(2) Factors such as age, body-type, previous experience with drugs, and size of the group in which the drug is taken affect the content of the drug-experience.
(3) Preoccupation with extraneous thoughts or problems will tend to lead to a confused, unpleasant experience.
(4) Pre-drug mood will affect the content of the experience and the mood during the drug state.
(5) Specific expectations as to the content of the experience will to some extent determine the nature of the drug-experience.
Not only the expectations of subjects but also the expectations of the researcher may exert a considerable influence on the nature of the drug reactions. The expectations of the researcher may influence the outcome of any experiment (and particularly of a drug experiment) in several ways: through the kind of setting he arranges for the experiment, through the information and attitude he conveys to the subject about his experiment and through his own behavior during the experiment. It is likely that the divergence of results reported by different investigators of the hallucinogenic drugs can in part be explained by experimenter bias. Some have reported that these drugs are “psychotomimetic” (e.g., Rinkel et al., 1952; Malitz et al., 1960); their experiments have typically taken place in a psychiatric hospital where the subject is surrounded by all the precautions appropriate to “psychosis.” Others have used the same drugs in psychotherapy (e.g., Abramson, 1960; Cohen, 1959); here the “placebo” effect is operating — experimenter and subject want and expect change. A third group of investigators (Wasson, 1961; Savage et al., 1962) talk of these substances as inducing “religious” or “transcendent” experiences. It is clear that the effects of the “sacred mushroom” taken in the context of a religious ceremony in Mexico will be very different from the effects of the same chemical substance taken in a modern laboratory setting.
Expectation, Mood and Psilocybin Reactions
Experimenter bias in human experiments is virtually impossible to eliminate (cf. Rosenthal, 1961). One way of controlling it is to vary it for different subjects and measure the effects. This was not attempted in the present study. We adopted the alternative of making our attitudes explicit and constant for all subjects. The setting provided was warm, supportive and non-task-oriented. Pleasant experiences and insight were anticipated. It should be clear that the present study is not an experimental comparison of the effects of psilocybin and a “placebo” under “double blind” conditions, and thus cannot answer the kinds of questions such an experiment could answer. Rather, this is a study of some antecedent-consequent relationships within a single fairly well-planned set of conditions. In this sense it is not an experiment at all, but a study of a certain experience in a particular setting.
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