SSM: Qualitative Research in Health
June 4, 2022
David M. O’shaughnessy, Zoltán Sarnyai, Frances Quirk et al.
Traditional Amazonian medicine, and in particular the psychoactive substance ayahuasca, has generated significant research interest along with the recent revival of psychedelic medicine. Previously we published within-treatment quantitative results from a residential addiction treatment centre that predominately employs Peruvian traditional Amazonian medicine, and here we follow up that work...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
May 28, 2021
David M. O’shaughnessy, Ilana Berlowitz
21 citations
Background: In Peruvian Amazonian medicine, plant diets ( dietas ) are a fundamental and highly flexible technique with a variety of uses: from treating and preventing illness, to increasing strength and resilience, to rites of passage, to learning even medicine itself. Many of the plants used in diets are psychoactive; for example, one now well-known plant that can be dieted is Banisteriopsis...
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
2021
David M. O’shaughnessy, Ilana Berlowitz, Robin Rodd et al.
Aims: The therapeutic use of psychedelics is regaining scientific momentum, but similarly psychoactive ethnobotanical substances have a long history of medical (and other) uses in indigenous contexts. Here we aimed to evaluate patient outcomes in a residential addiction treatment center that employs a novel combination of Western and traditional Amazonian methods. Methods: The study was...
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
July 1, 2020
Ilana Berlowitz, Heinrich Walt, Christian Ghasarian et al.
19 citations
Our results suggest that the Amazonian medicine-based therapy attracts a diverse patient group not limited to regional residents and may be particularly appealing to more impaired SUD patients with a history of unsuccessful treatment. The sample's cultural diversity suggests an existing interest in such therapies among international SUD treatment-seeking patients. These findings are relevant in...
2017
David M. O’shaughnessy
7 citations
Takiwasi is an addiction treatment centre located in Peru that fuses traditional Amazonian medicine (including the use of psychoactive plants, such as ayahuasca) with Western medicine and psychotherapeutic techniques. Anecdotal and indirect evidence suggests that the treatment could be highly effective for certain individuals, yet rigorous studies have been rare. Given the centre's medical...