Ceremonial Ayahuasca in Amazonian Retreats—Mental Health and Epigenetic Outcomes From a Six-Month Naturalistic Study
Frontiers in Psychiatry June 9, 2021 Simon Ruffell, Nige Netzband, WaiFung Tsang et al. 74 citations
A naturalistic study of 63 people who participated in ayahuasca ceremonies at a retreat in the Peruvian Amazon found significant improvements in depression, anxiety, and overall psychological distress, along with increased self-compassion, immediately after the retreat and sustained at six months. Depression scores on the Beck Depression Inventory dropped from 13.9 to 6.1, anxiety scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory fell from 44.4 to 34.3, and scores on the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure decreased from 37.3 to 22.3. Changes in memory valence were linked to these improvements. Epigenetic results were inconclusive but suggested further research on the SIGMAR1 gene is warranted.