Medicalisation of Ayahuasca as a Depression Treatment
Elena Gomel Cordeiro
The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts September 19, 2023 DOI: 10.26481/mjla.2023.v14.912 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Ayahuasca Depression |
| Keywords | Indigenous Biomedicine Medicalization Depression economics Western medicine Traditional medicine Alternative medicine Anthropology Ecology Traditional chinese medicine |
| Key points | Argues that medicalizing ayahuasca creates an unjustified hierarchy of scientific knowledge over indigenous knowledge systems, potentially harming treatment effectiveness. |
Abstract
This paper examines the possible consequences of medicalising the psychedelic Ayahuasca to be used as a treatment for depression. Through a science and technology studies (STS) understanding of the social construction of scientific facts, I consider how traditional indigenous uses of Ayahuasca are translated into Western medicine. Two special points of attention are: (1) the cultural reductivism entailed in the standardisation of the active substance of Ayahuasca (DMT), understood through Martin’s (2000) analysis of neuroreductivism in Western medicine, and (2) the issue of biopiracy, wherein biological resources are appropriated without fair compensation for indigenous communities. In conclusion, I suggest that the dangers of medicalising ayahuasca boil down to an unjustified hierarchy of scientific knowledge over indigenous knowledge systems, which might lead to serious consequences also for the effectiveness of the proposed treatment. Keywords: Medicalization, Ayahuasca, Neuroreductivism, Biopiracy
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on ayahuasca, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The globalization of ayahuasca: Harm reduction or benefit maximization? | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Towards psychedelic apprenticeship: Developing a gentle touch for the mediation and validation of psychedelic-induced insights and revelations. | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Ayahuasca healing beyond the Amazon: the globalization of a traditional indigenous entheogenic practice | 2008 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |