Journal of Chromatography B
June 8, 2019
Rita C. Z. Souza, Flávia Da Silva Zandonadi, Donizete P. Freitas et al.
42 citations
Ayahuasca is a brew prepared from the water decoction of two Amazonian plants, which is legally used for religious, cultural or therapeutic activities. The potential use of ayahuasca as a natural or phytotherapeutic drug is directly linked to the action of its active compounds and their connection with the therapeutic efficacy of the beverage. In this context, the aim of the present study was...
Epilepsy & Behavior
June 7, 2019
Rafael G. Dos Santos, Jaime E. C. Hallak
58 citations
Ayahuasca is a botanical hallucinogenic preparation traditionally used for ritual and therapeutic purposes by native populations of the Northwestern Amazon. In the last decades, ayahuasca use has spread to Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa, and interest in the possible therapeutic uses of ayahuasca for treating anxiety and mood disorder and substance-use disorders has increased both...
Revista do Arquivo Geral da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro
June 6, 2019
Maicon Fecher, Elizabeth Pissolato
This paper approaches the relationship that has been built since 2000’s among ayahuasca Huni Kuin masters (Western Amazon) — singers (txanas) or shamans — and locals from Rio de Janeiro city that are interested in the set of knowledges mediated by that and other forest medicines. We briefly follow up the relationship between Huni Kuin indigenous people and ayahuasca religions in Acre 1990’s...
Frontiers in Psychology
June 4, 2019
Raíssa Nóbrega de Almeida, Ana Cecília de Menezes Galvão, Flávia Santos Da Silva et al.
173 citations
Serotonergic psychedelics are emerging as potential antidepressant therapeutic tools, as suggested in a recent randomized controlled trial with ayahuasca for treatment-resistant depression. Preclinical and clinical studies have suggested that serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels increase after treatment with serotoninergic antidepressants, but the exact role of BDNF as a...
Interdisciplinaria Revista de Psicología y Ciencias Afines
June 1, 2019
Ismael Apud
6 citations
La ayahuasca es una sustancia psicoactiva de origen amazónico, usada tradicionalmente con fines espirituales, médicos y religiosos. En la década de los ‘90 adquiere gran popularidad, tanto a través de las redes internacionales de espiritualidad y religiosidad, como en el denominado renacimiento de los estudios psicodélicos, donde se retoma la investigación y experimentación sobre los posibles...
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 1, 2019
Matthew D Clark
22 citations
In this article, the origins of the cult of the ritual drink known as soma/haoma are explored. Various shortcomings of the main botanical candidates that have so far been proposed for this so-called “nectar of immortality” are assessed. Attention is brought to a variety of plants identified as soma/haoma in ancient Asian literature. Some of these plants are included in complex formulas and are...
Natural Products and Bioprospecting
May 27, 2019
Edgar Antonio Estrella-Parra, Julio Cesar Almanza-Pérez, Francisco Javier Alarcón-aguilar
57 citations
Ayahuasca (caapi, yajé), is a psychoactive brew from the Amazon Basin region of South America traditionally considered a "master plant." It is prepared as a decoction from Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, which it is thought that it stimulates creative thinking and visual creativity. Native healers of the Orinoco and Amazon basins have used traditionally ayahuasca as a healing tool...
PLoS One
April 23, 2019
Roland R. Griffiths, Ethan Hurwitz, Alan K. Davis et al.
249 citations
Naturally occurring and psychedelic drug-occasioned experiences interpreted as personal encounters with God are well described but have not been systematically compared. In this study, five groups of individuals participated in an online survey with detailed questions characterizing the subjective phenomena, interpretation, and persisting changes attributed to their single most memorable God...
Journal of Marketing Management
April 16, 2019
Andrew Kristoffer Dean
13 citations
This ethnographic study increases our understanding of Westerners seeking genuine fairy tale experiences of magic, transformation and enchantment within South American psychedelic ayahuasca tourism. Examining 63 tourists, this study shows how vision-based spirit sensegivers facilitate individuals in exorcising demons, to make sense of themselves as spiritual beings within an enchanted universe....
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 29, 2019
Tom Wolff, Simon Ruffell, Nigel Netzband et al.
41 citations
Aims This heuristic study reports observations on the phenomenology of ayahuasca experiences of nine foreign tourist participants of an ayahuasca retreat in Peru. Methods Narrative interviews, reflecting individual experiences after ayahuasca “night ceremony,” have been analyzed by qualitative content analysis using a data-driven strategy in order to extract themes and categories inherent in...