Journal of psychoactive drugs
January 1, 2020
Ismael Eduardo Apud Peláez
22 citations
Ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew from the Amazon, is used in religious, spiritual, and therapeutic settings, including addiction treatment. In former substance users from Catalonia and surrounding areas, those who took ayahuasca scored higher on Novelty Seeking and Self-Transcendence, as well as on traits Attachment, Impulsivity, Compassion, and Spiritual Acceptance, compared to a control group. Recovery may relate less to reducing Impulsivity and Novelty Seeking—typical in substance use disorder—and more to increasing Character dimensions, especially Self-Transcendence and Cooperativeness. Participants reported that self-reflective, prosocial, and transcendental ayahuasca ritual experiences helped reconstruct personal goals, gratifications, social bonds, and life direction.
Publicacions URV eBooks
January 1, 2020
Ismael Eduardo Apud Peláez
11 citations
Over a decade of ethnographic fieldwork in Latin America and Catalonia reveals the diversity of ayahuasca spiritual practices and beliefs. The author integrates medical anthropology, cognitive science of religion, history of science, and religious studies to analyze these varied traditions. The work draws on Apud's background as a psychologist and anthropologist, offering a multidisciplinary perspective on how ayahuasca is understood and used across different cultural contexts.
International Journal of Latin American Religions
December 1, 2022
Ismael Eduardo Apud Peláez, Victor E. C. Ortuño, Mari Rose Reimondo Silva et al.
6 citations
Tibetan Buddhists in Uruguay report lower future anxiety, activity, and aggression than both religious and non-religious comparison groups, and lower neuroticism than the religious group alone. The study compared 52 members of three Tibetan Buddhist groups with 52 religious and 52 non-religious individuals using personality and future-anxiety questionnaires. These differences may reflect personality traits of people drawn to Tibetan Buddhism or result from the tradition’s distinctive dimensions of believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging.