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Motivational structure of ayahuasca drinkers in social networks

Tom Wolff, Torsten Passie

Journal of Psychedelic Studies November 9, 2018 DOI: 10.1556/2054.2018.010 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Qualitative Peer reviewed
Sample size 40
Population Active members of closed Facebook groups about ayahuasca in 2015
Topics Ayahuasca
Keywords Tourism Synchronicity The internet
Citations 10
Key findings Self-exploration and spiritual purposes are the main reasons for drinking ayahuasca among western Internet activists, while physical health issues and sensation seeking are minor reasons.

Abstract

The international distribution and commodification of ayahuasca has created virtual communicative realms in the Internet in which members intensively exchange personal narratives, advertisements, and beliefs about ayahuasca and its reputed native background. Common consumption standards and beliefs about ayahuasca have developed among western ayahuasca drinkers who are often only loosely connected to the local practice of ayahuasca-shamanism in regions of the upper Amazonas that are not yet influenced by ayahuasca tourism. Those new standards of the ayahuasca tourism are reflected in the Internet. Motivation and expectation of interested ayahuasca tourists gets shaped in Internet forums. Previous studies about the motivation of western ayahuasca drinkers have mainly used heuristic qualitative methods. This study characterizes ayahuasca Internet activists and examines statistically their motivational structure to drink ayahuasca. Using online data collection and quantitative analysis methods, 40 participants were studied who were active in closed Facebook groups about ayahuasca in the year 2015. The average active members of ayahuasca Facebook groups in this sample seem to be 28–50 years old (±1 SD), higher education degree holders, preexperienced with other psychedelic drugs and other psychospiritual methods, preexperienced with ayahuasca and motivated to drink again, and tend toward the intake within organized events such as shamanic healing ceremonies and retreat seminars. The results suggest that the motivation of Internet activists for ayahuasca consists in majority of four main elements: self-exploration, spiritual purposes, physical health issues, and sensation seeking. Self-exploration and spiritual purposes appear to be the main reasons for drinking ayahuasca. Physical health issues and sensation seeking are minor reasons among this subgroup of western ayahuasca drinkers but may play a larger role in some participants. The motivation of members of social ayahuasca networks in the Internet seems not to be monodimensional but a composite of different aspects of which a subconglomerate of psychospiritual reasons and individual self-development seems to be the most dominant. The findings support motivational differences to local ayahuasca shaman clients in the upper Amazonas region that have been previously described in the ethnologic literature.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on ayahuasca, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Antidepressant effects of a single dose of ayahuasca in patients with recurrent depression: a preliminary report Patients with a depressive disorder 2015 Observational study
The Psychedelic State Induced by Ayahuasca Modulates the Activity and Connectivity of the Default Mode Network Experienced subjects 2015 Observational cohort n = 10
Human Psychopharmacology of Hoasca, A Plant Hallucinogen Used in Ritual Context in Brazil Long-term members of a syncretic church that uses hoasca as a psychoactive sacrament... 1996 Observational cohort with matched controls n = 30
Ayahuasca-Assisted Therapy for Addiction: Results from a Preliminary Observational Study in Canada Rural aboriginal population 2013 Observational study
Personality, Psychopathology, Life Attitudes and Neuropsychological Performance among Ritual Users of Ayahuasca: A Longitudinal Study Regular ayahuasca users and active controls in non-ayahuasca religions 2012 Observational cohort n = 242

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Ayahuasca Shamanism