Skip to content

Takiwasi: addiction treatment in the "Singing House"

David M. O’shaughnessy

2017 DOI: 10.4225/28/5a9dce00eafa6 (opens in new tab)

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative and quantitative study (ethnographic fieldwork, psychological testing, salivary cortisol measurement)
Population Patients at Takiwasi addiction treatment centre in Peru
Interventions Western medicine psychotherapeutic techniques
Topics Addiction
Keywords Biopsychosocial model Psychotherapist Context archaeology Clinical psychology
Citations 7
Key findings Patients at Takiwasi showed no harm and clinically positive change for the majority, challenging the biomedical brain disease paradigm of addiction.

Abstract

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 pluralism, I develop and utilize a research approach based on a reappraisal of George Engel's biopsychosocial model; that is, a biopsychosocial model founded on critical pragmatism. The basic relationship between stress, addiction, and the environment is represented in a new model of addiction, which is then elaborated upon in terms of critical psychosocial theory. Such an approach draws on biology, psychology, anthropology, and sociology in an attempt to understand not only Takiwasi, but the phenomenon of addiction itself in relation to the modern world. Results from the study of Takiwasi patients undergoing treatment (with methods including ethnographic fieldwork, psychological testing, and salivary cortisol measurement) indicate not only an absence of harm, but also the presence of clinically positive change for the majority of patients. Within the treatment context, it seems likely that profound (yet poorly understood) biological and psychological mechanisms are associated with these changes, although the nature of the treatment also leads to discussion of alternate healing mechanisms which exceed current Western medical rationality. Contextualizing these results within a critical biopsychosocial model of addiction challenges the adequacy of the biomedical brain disease paradigm, and also demonstrates the logical deficiency (and potential danger) of asocial and ahistorical theories of addiction. Finally, addiction is considered from the perspective of classical critical theory, with Takiwasi demonstrating a potentially resistive process against a dangerous tendency embedded in the project of modernity.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on addiction, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation: Qualitative analysis of participant accounts Participants who completed a psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation pilot study 2018 Qualitative follow-up study using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis n = 12
Therapeutic Effects of Ritual Ayahuasca Use in the Treatment of Substance Dependence—Qualitative Results Therapists, expert researchers, and individuals who underwent ayahuasca-assisted... 2014 Qualitative study n = 29
Exploring ayahuasca‐assisted therapy for addiction: A qualitative analysis of preliminary findings among an Indigenous community in Canada Indigenous adults in Canada who participated in ayahuasca-assisted ceremonial retreats 2019 Qualitative study n = 11
Self-reported negative outcomes of psilocybin users: A quantitative textual analysis Users who self-reported psilocybin experiences on an online platform 2020 Qualitative study n = 346
Reports of self-compassion and affect regulation in psilocybin-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder: An interpretive phenomenological analysis. non-Hispanic White cisgender men and women with alcohol use disorder 2023 Qualitative study n = 13

Citations in the library

Cited by 5

Related reading

Explore topics

Addiction Ayahuasca