Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
October 20, 2015
Veronika Kavenská, Hana Šimonová
109 citations
Foreigners travel to South America for ayahuasca experiences driven by curiosity, a desire to treat mental health problems, a need for self-knowledge, interest in psychedelic medicine, spiritual development, and finding direction in life. Participants reported benefits such as self-knowledge, improved self-relation, spiritual growth, better interpersonal relations, overcoming mental and physical issues, and gaining new life perspectives. Potential risks included distrust in the shaman or organizer, inaccurate information, and exposure to dangerous situations. Personality assessments of 77 participants revealed scores significantly above the norm on intuition, optimism, ambition, charm, and helpfulness, and significantly lower on distrust and quietness.
Front Pharmacol
April 21, 2021
Daniel Perkins, Violeta Schubert, Hana Šimonová et al.
73 citations
A large international survey of ayahuasca drinkers found that the context and setting in which ayahuasca is consumed—including preparation, guidance, and integration support—are strongly associated with mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Participants who reported professional or traditional guidance, structured preparation, and post-session integration were more likely to experience improvements in mood, reductions in anxiety, and overall psychological wellbeing. The findings suggest that the benefits of ayahuasca are not solely due to the substance itself but are significantly influenced by the surrounding environmental and support factors. Negative or null outcomes were more common among those who lacked such structured support.
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
February 6, 2021
Jerome Sarris, Daniel Perkins, Lachlan Cribb et al.
72 citations
Among 1,571 people who reported depression and 1,125 who reported anxiety at the time of consuming ayahuasca, 78% of those with depression said their symptoms were 'very much' improved (46%) or 'completely resolved' (32%), while 70% of those with anxiety reported 'very much' improvement (54%) or complete resolution (16%). Greater improvement was linked to mystical experiences, more ayahuasca sessions, and personal psychological insights. A small minority—2.7% with depression and 4.5% with anxiety—reported worsened symptoms. The authors note this cross-sectional survey cannot establish treatment efficacy and call for randomized controlled trials.
Drug and Alcohol Review
July 25, 2021
Daniel Perkins, Emérita Sátiro Opaleye, Hana Šimonová et al.
54 citations
People who consumed ayahuasca in naturalistic settings reported lower current use of alcohol and other drugs, including risky drinking, compared to those who used it less often. The more times ayahuasca was consumed, the stronger the association with never or rarely drinking alcohol and not using a range of drugs in the past month. These effects were greater for individuals with a prior substance use disorder. The strength of subjective spiritual experience, number of personal insights gained, and drinking ayahuasca with an ayahuasca church were also linked to lower substance use in some analyses. The associations remained after adjusting for religious or social group effects.
Psychoactives
October 3, 2023
Daniel Perkins, Emérita Sátiro Opaleye, José Carlos Bouso et al.
18 citations
Ayahuasca drinkers almost universally report gaining insights during their experiences, and these insights strongly predict subsequent beneficial life and lifestyle changes, including improvements in psychological wellbeing and mental health. In a large international survey of 8,907 ayahuasca drinkers, common changes attributed to ayahuasca included personal, vocational, religious or spiritual, and health-related shifts, along with healthier behaviors. Demographic factors and drinking patterns also predicted these outcomes. The findings suggest that insights and resulting life changes are central to the transformative effects of ayahuasca, occurring across diverse contexts and groups.
Anthropologia integra
January 1, 2014
Veronika Kavenská, Hana Šimonová
9 citations
People travel to the Amazon rainforest to take the natural hallucinogen ayahuasca in a shamanic ritual, a phenomenon called 'shamanic tourism' described by anthropologists since the 1970s and increasingly popular among Europeans and Americans. Interviews with 77 individuals who experienced ayahuasca in South American forests, mainly in Peru, revealed that primary motivations were curiosity and desire for adventure, treatment of psychological problems, need for self-knowledge, interest in psychedelic medicine and therapy, spiritual development, and finding life direction.