Short-Term Treatment Effects of a Substance Use Disorder Therapy Involving Traditional Amazonian Medicine.
Ilana Berlowitz, Heinrich Walt, Christian Ghasarian, Fernando Mendive, Chantal Martin-Soelch
Journal of psychoactive drugs January 1, 2019 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2019.1607956 via PubMed
Summary
The integrative treatment program at the Takiwasi Center, which combines Amazonian medicine and psychotherapy, showed significant short-term improvements in substance use disorder symptoms among 36 male participants. Key outcomes included decreased addiction severity for drug use, alcohol use, psychiatric status, emotional distress, and substance craving, alongside improved quality of life. Nearly all participants were dependent on multiple substances, primarily cannabis, alcohol, and cocaine-related drugs.
Study at a glance
| Design | observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 53 |
| Population | males diagnosed with substance use dependence |
| Key finding | Significant decreases in addiction severity and emotional distress were observed after the Amazonian medicine-based treatment. |
Abstract
Chronic illness management today commonly involves alternative medicines. Substance use disorder (SUD), as a chronic psychosomatic illness, might benefit from a similar approach. The accredited Takiwasi Center offers such an SUD treatment program involving Amazonian medicine combined with psychotherapy. The current study assessed this integrative program's short-term therapeutic effects. We measured baseline data from 53 dependence-diagnosed males admitted to treatment (T1) and repeated clinical outcome variables at treatment completion (T2). Paired samples t-tests were used to assess changes between T1 and T2 (n = 36). Nearly all participants (age M= 30.86, SD= 8.17) were dependent on multiple substances, most prominently cannabis, alcohol, and cocaine-related drugs. A significant decrease (T1 to T2) was found for addiction severity outcomes drug use (p < .001), alcohol use (p < .001), psychiatric status (p < .001), and social/familial relationships (p < .001). Emotional distress also diminished significantly (p < .001), as did substance craving (p < .001). Quality of life increased significantly from T1 to T2 (p < .001). Our results provide first indications for significantly improved SUD symptoms after the Amazonian medicine-based treatment. These findings are preliminary given the design, but strongly encourage further investigation of this therapy, which in the long term may open new therapeutic avenues for SUDs.