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.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
August 30, 2018
Miroslav Horák, Lea Hasíková, Nahanga Verter
16 citations
Ayahuasca users in the Czech Republic describe its therapeutic potential as broad, particularly for treating drug addiction, based on memory recall. The intensity of the drug's effects does not directly correspond to its therapeutic benefit. These findings come from semi-structured interviews with 46 participants (23 women, 23 men) who had attended at least one ayahuasca ritual or facilitated sessions, analyzed using grounded theory.
January 1, 2019
Miroslav Horák, Nahanga Verter
10 citations
Ayahuasca, a preparation used in traditional Amazonian medicine, is examined in the context of the Czech Republic, focusing on its therapeutic potential. An online questionnaire survey of 46 users (23 women, 23 men) who had participated in rituals, along with semi-structured interviews analyzed using grounded theory, shows that rituals are adapted to users' needs. People use ayahuasca for healing, spiritual and religious reasons, curiosity, experimentation, and personality development. Its therapeutic potential in local conditions lies mainly in treating lifestyle diseases.
Mendelova univerzita v Brně eBooks
January 1, 2017
Miroslav Horák
6 citations
A book focused on the use of ayahuasca in the Czech Republic and its potential therapeutic applications in local conditions. It includes a classification of rituals and characteristics of their organizers and participants. Field research among ayahuasca users was conducted following an online questionnaire survey starting November 1.
Anthropologia integra
December 15, 2015
Miroslav Horák, Romana Lukášová, Šárka Vosáhlová
6 citations
Ayahuasca, a key element of traditional indigenous medicine in the Peruvian Amazon, has become a global phenomenon. In the Czech Republic, where ayahuasca is illegal due to its N,N-dimethyltryptamine content, it is used within a subculture. A pilot online anonymous questionnaire survey of 70 respondents mapped this phenomenon for the first time, finding that ayahuasca is used in all regions of the country, most often in Prague, primarily for therapeutic reasons. The traditional use of ayahuasca has adapted to local conditions, and with increasing awareness, further spread of this sociocultural phenomenon is expected. When traditional safety guidelines are followed, ayahuasca has therapeutic potential for treating drug addiction and other diseases of civilization.
January 1, 2015
Miroslav Horák, Kristina Somerlíková
4 citations
No Summary
Mendelova univerzita v Brně eBooks
January 1, 2021
Tereza Rumlerová, Olivia Marcus, Jesús M. González Mariscal et al.
2 citations
The diet is a traditional Amazonian practice involving strict rules of isolation, diet, and sexual abstinence, during which 'master plants' or 'doctor plants' are taken for healing and learning. Two types exist: therapeutic/medicinal diets for physical, energetic, and emotional problems, and shamanic diets as part of long-term training to become a healer. The research was conducted at Takiwasi Center in Tarapoto, Peru, a nonprofit treating substance use disorders by combining traditional Amazonian medicine with psychotherapy. Since 1996, over 1,900 people from various countries have participated in eight-day retreats that begin with a purgative plant and an ayahuasca ceremony, which induces both vomiting and an expanded state of consciousness.
Anthropologia integra
November 8, 2016
Miroslav Horák, Šárka Vosáhlová
2 citations
In the Czech Republic, the most commonly used preparation from traditional Amazonian medicine is the psychoactive brew ayahuasca. Field research conducted from November 2015 involved semi-structured interviews with 46 individuals (23 women and 23 men) who had participated in at least one ritual using traditional Amazonian medicine. Content analysis of the first 15 interviews, using grounded theory, confirms ayahuasca's prevalence. The article also classifies the types of ceremonies, their organizers, and participants, and concludes by outlining risks associated with psychoactive substance use.
Etnologické rozpravy
July 17, 2026
Miroslav Horák
Time is not an objective framework or a mental representation but an embodied, multisensory, and culturally mediated process. The present is a dynamic threshold between past and future, shaped by perception, memory, and anticipation. Vision structures time through movement, hearing through rhythm, and touch through bodily practice; interoception links felt time to physiological states, while smell and taste reactivate the past. Using Bourdieu's habitus, the article connects micro-perception to social rhythms. In late modernity, experiences of time slipping away result from disrupted rhythms and fragmented attention; slowing-down practices restore embodied presence. Time is best understood as a mode of sensory being-in-the-world.