Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
May 31, 2026
Anna Beatriz Vicentini, Caio César De Paula, José Augusto Silva Reis et al.
The impact of classic psychedelics (5-HT2A receptor agonists) on personality traits has been studied for decades, and it has been hypothesized that the mechanisms underlying these changes are linked to agonism at cortical serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors. However, research results are contradictory. Therefore, the present paper aims to systematically evaluate the effects of psychedelics on...
Psychedelics
April 20, 2026
José Carlos Bouso, Óscar Andión, Jordi Cantillo et al.
The Symmetrical Global Mental Health (Sym-GMH) paradigm proposes a reciprocal integration between traditional and Western medical systems. This prospective, longitudinal study evaluates the psychological outcomes of 264 Western participants who engaged in Shipibo-led ayahuasca retreats at the Temple of the Way of Light in the Peruvian Amazon. Over a 12-month period, participants completed...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 19, 2026
Pedro J. Teixeira, Jorge Encantado, Helena D Amaro et al.
Ayahuasca, a traditional Amazonian psychoactive brew, has gained increasing attention for its potential health benefits; however, no previous research has investigated its use in Portugal. This study aims to evaluate the health status, lifestyle behaviors, and psychosocial well-being of Portuguese ayahuasca users, comparing their self-reported health indicators with population norms. A...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
March 9, 2026
Caio César De Paula, Anna Beatriz Vicentini, Lorena Terene Lopes Guerra et al.
Ayahuasca has aroused increasing interest due to its therapeutic effects. However, its effects on cognition are poorly understood. Hence, a systematic review evaluating the cognitive effects of ayahuasca was conducted. This systematic review was conducted in accordance to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. A comprehensive search was performed in...
European Neuropsychopharmacology
February 12, 2026
José Carlos Bouso, Óscar Andión, Sabela Fondevila Estévez et al.
The increasing interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and cannabis underscores the need to understand their long-term neuropsychological and personality effects. This cross-sectional study compared regular users of ayahuasca (n = 69), cannabis (n = 56), and non-substance users (n = 94) on a battery of neuropsychological tasks and psychological questionnaires. Participants were...
Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
2026
Juliana Mendes Rocha, Renan Massanobu Maekawa, José Augusto Silva Reis et al.
INTRODUCTION: Ibogaine is a natural hallucinogen with emerging evidence for treating substance use disorders. However, its cardiovascular effects are not fully known, and most clinical data focus on opioid dependence, with limited data for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). This study assessed the feasibility, safety, and preliminary effects of ibogaine in patients with AUD. METHOD: In this...
PLoS One
October 13, 2025
Francisco González-espejito, Laura Esteban Rodríguez, Eduardo J. Pedrero Pérez et al.
Ibogaine, an indole alkaloid derived from the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga, has long been used in traditional Bwiti healing rituals and shows promise for treating opioid dependence and neurological conditions, but existing psychometric tools fail to capture its distinctive subjective/oneiric (dream-like) effects. To address this gap, we developed the 70-item Ibogaine Experience Scale (IES)...
Psychoactives
July 15, 2025
Bianca Villanova, Giordano Novak Rossi, Lorena Terene Lopes Guerra et al.
Pain is a protective mechanism that can be classified into acute and chronic types. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew rich in dimethyltryptamine or DMT (a 5-HT2A receptor agonist), and harmine (a monoamine-oxidase (MAO) inhibitor) used for religious and therapeutic purposes. Previous preclinical and anecdotal evidence suggests that ayahuasca and its compounds have antinociceptive and...
Psychoactives
March 4, 2025
Renan Massanobu Maekawa, Lorena T. L. Guerra, José Carlos Bouso et al.
Depression is common among patients suffering from cancer, but is often challenging to diagnose due to the overlap of symptoms with cancer and its treatments. Additionally, treating depression in cancer patients is challenging because of the confusion between the adverse effects of antidepressants, cancer treatments, and cancer symptoms. This study aims to evaluate the safety and adverse...
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
March 1, 2025
Arilton Martins Fonseca, Rafael Guimarães Dos Santos, Lívia Soman de Medeiros et al.
10 citations
Although several studies have been conducted to elucidate the relationship between psychedelic consumption and cognition, few have focused on understanding the long-term use influence of these substances on these variables, especially in ritualistic contexts. To verify the influence of ritualistic ayahuasca consumption on the cognition of experienced ayahuasca religious users (> 20 years) and...
PLOS mental health
2025
Óscar Andión, José Carlos Bouso, Jerome Sarris et al.
1 citation
Ayahuasca is a decoction native to the Amazon, where it plays a central role in the traditional medicine of many local cultures and has expanded internationally over the last decades. Ayahuasca has also attracted the interest of scientists for its potential benefits on mental health, but its adverse effects are under-researched. We analyzed data from the Global Ayahuasca Survey, including...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
2025
Jonathan David, José Carlos Bouso, Maja Kohek et al.
correction
1. In the published article, there was an error. The error was regarding the average number of ayahuasca uses in the ayahuasca group in Study 1. A correction has been made to the Results section in lines 387-390. This sentence previously stated:Briefly, on average, our study participants have used ayahuasca (mean = 69.4 ± 98.7), 6.4 times more than psilocybin (mean = 10.7 ± 15.4, U = 1378, p <...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
November 23, 2024
Daniel Perkins, Jerome Sarris, Tessa Cowley-Court et al.
5 citations
Emerging evidence indicates that ayahuasca consumption may have beneficial mental health effects. This study undertakes the largest analysis to date of associations between naturalistic ayahuasca use and current mental health status via an online cross-sectional survey. The sample included 7,576 participants (average age 41, 47% female) who had consumed ayahuasca in religious, traditional, or...
International Clinical Psychopharmacology
June 27, 2024
Alberto Sainz-Cort, Marta Martín-Islas, Daniel Jiménez‐garrido et al.
1 citation
OBJECTIVE: While social cognition is shown to be impaired in several mental disorders, the effects of cannabis on social cognition are still not clear. Past studies have used the multifaceted empathy test (MET) to study social cognition. This study aims to test the validity of the MET Spanish version and to evaluate the effects of cannabis use on social cognition. METHODS: In total 116...
Archives of Pharmacology and Therapeutics
2024
Débora González, Jordi Cantillo, José Carlos Bouso
Globally, approximately 58 million deaths occur annually. Each death is estimated to directly affect about nine close relatives, underscoring that grief is not only a universal experience but also a potential recurrent process throughout life.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
December 19, 2023
Jonathan David, José Carlos Bouso, Maja Kohek et al.
14 citations
Introduction Despite an emerging understanding regarding the pivotal mechanistic role of subjective experiences that unfold during acute psychedelic states, very little has been done in the direction of better characterizing such experiences and determining their long-term impact. The present paper utilizes two cross-sectional studies for spotlighting – for the first time in the literature –...
Psychoactives
December 11, 2023
Juliana Mendes Rocha, José Augusto Silva Reis, Giordano Novak Rossi et al.
3 citations
As the research field with psychedelic substances grows, it is expected to encompass a more extensive cohort of individuals presenting a spectrum of medical conditions, comorbidities, and unique physiological traits, thereby increasing the likelihood of potential adverse events. Furthermore, it is worth noting that there is a scarcity of the specialized literature regarding procedures to ensure...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
December 1, 2023
Genís Ona, Ingrid Reverte, Giordano N. Rossi et al.
20 citations
There is a growing interest in studying ibogaine (IBO) as a potential treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs). However, its clinical use has been hindered for mainly two reasons: First, the lack of randomized, controlled studies informing about its safety and efficacy. And second, IBO's mechanisms of action remain obscure. It has been challenging to elucidate a predominant mechanism of...
Revista de Antropología Social
November 20, 2023
Maja Kohek, José Carlos Bouso, Genís Ona
3 citations
Este artículo presenta un estudio de caso de una mujer que emigró de la selva brasileña a Barcelona hace diecisiete años, y su camino para convertirse en una curandera que trabaja con ayahuasca, kambó (veneno de rana) y sananga (colirio herbal). Se discuten las nociones de autenticidad, communitas y autoatención. Sostenemos que el chamanismo, la religión y la salud son procesos fluidos y...
Psychoactives
November 17, 2023
Anna Beatriz Vicentini, Lucas Silva Rodrigues, Giordano Novak Rossi et al.
4 citations
Alcohol is the recreational drug most frequently consumed, and its high frequency of use can lead to worsening social, psychological, and domestic issues. The age group most susceptible to alcohol dependence is 18- to 24-year-old youths, demanding interventional tools to target early involvement risks. Ayahuasca seems to be a promising therapeutic tool since evidence suggests it presents...
Psychoactives
October 3, 2023
Daniel Perkins, Emérita Sátiro Opaleye, José Carlos Bouso et al.
18 citations
Background: In the context of increasing scientific interest in the potential therapeutic use of psychedelic agents and their underlying psychotherapeutic mechanisms, we undertake the first detailed assessment of insights and life and lifestyle changes associated with ayahuasca consumption. Methods: An international cross-sectional study of ayahuasca drinkers in a variety of settings was...
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
October 1, 2023
Juliana Mendes Rocha, José A S Reis, José Carlos Bouso et al.
21 citations
Ibogaine is a psychoactive alkaloid derived from the west-African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. Western cultures are increasing the interest for the substance due to its claimed anti addictive properties, although the evidence supporting this effect is still preliminary. The use of ibogaine often occurs with no medical supervision in uncontrolled settings, and its use has been associated with...
Scientific Reports
September 11, 2023
José Carlos Bouso, Dóra Révész, Genís Ona et al.
9 citations
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the health and wellbeing of the global population. This paper presents the results of a longitudinal transcultural study that was begun at the peak of the pandemic (in April, 2020). An online survey was used to collect data from English-, Spanish-, and Portuguese-speaking participants. The survey collected information about...
Psychoactives
June 13, 2023
Tessa Cowley-Court, Richard Chenhall, Jerome Sarris et al.
19 citations
Ayahuasca is an Amazonian psychoactive plant medicine being explored for its potential therapeutic uses in Western contexts. Preliminary studies link ayahuasca use with improvements across a range of mental health indicators, but studies have not yet explored qualitative aspects of the post-treatment process known in the psychedelic literature as “integration”. This includes how participants...
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
June 1, 2023
José Carlos Bouso, Genís Ona, Maja Kohek et al.
8 citations
Hallucinations are currently associated almost exclusively with psychopathological states. While it is evident that hallucinations can indicate psychopathology or neurological disorders, we should remember that hallucinations also commonly occur in people without any signs of psychopathology. A similar case occurs in the case of hallucinogenic drugs, which have been long associated with...