An international Delphi consensus for reporting of setting in psychedelic clinical trials
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Psychedelic substances exhibit complex interactions with the ‘set and setting’ of use, that is, the mental state of the user and the environment in which a psychedelic experience takes place. Despite these contextual variables’ known importance, psychedelic research has lacked methodological rigor in reporting extra-pharmacological factors. This study aimed to generate consensus-based guidelines for reporting settings in psychedelic clinical research, according to an international group of psychedelic researchers, clinicians and past trial participants. We conducted a Delphi consensus study composed of four iterative rounds of quasi-anonymous online surveys. A total of 89 experts from 17 countries independently listed potentially important psychedelic setting variables. There were 770 responses, synthesized into 49 distinct items that were subsequently rated, debated and refined. The process yielded 30 extra-pharmacological variables reaching predefined consensus ratings:i.e., ‘important’ or ‘very important’ for ≥70% of experts. These items compose the Reporting of Setting in Psychedelic Clinical Trials (ReSPCT) guidelines, categorized into physical environment, dosing session procedure, therapeutic framework and protocol, and subjective experiences. Emergent findings reveal significant ambiguities in current conceptualizations of set and setting. The ReSPCT guidelines and accompanying explanatory document provide a new standard for the design and documentation of extra-pharmacological variables in psychedelic clinical research.
Date Issued
2025-06-03
Date Acceptance
2025-03-31
Citation
Nature Medicine, 2025, 31, pp.2186-2195
ISSN
1078-8956
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Start Page
2186
End Page
2195
Journal / Book Title
Nature Medicine
Volume
31
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Subjects
ReSPCT Experts
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-06-03