Ayahuasca as a Decoction Applied to Human: Analytical Methods, Pharmacology and Potential Toxic Effects

Ahyahuasca is a term commonly used to describe a decoction prepared by cooking the bark or crushed stems of the liana Banisteriopsis caapi (contains β-carbolines) alone or in combination with other plants, most commonly leaves of the shrub Psychotria viridis (contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine-DMT). More than 100 different plants can serve as sources of β-carbolines and DMT, which are the active alkaloids of this decoction, and therefore it is important to know the most accurate composition of the decoction, especially when studying the pharmacology of this plant. The aim was to summarize the latest sensitive methods used in the analysis of the composition of the beverage itself and the analysis of various biological matrices. We compared pharmacokinetic parameters in all of the studies where decoction of ayahuasca was administered and where its composition was known, whereby minimal adverse effects were observed. The therapeutic benefit of this plant is still unclear in the scientific literature, and side effects occur probably on the basis of pre-existing psychiatric disorder. We also described toxicological risks and clinical benefits of ayahuasca intake, which meant that the concentrations of active alkaloids in the decoction or in the organism, often not determined in publications, were required for sufficient evaluation of its effect on the organism. We did not find any post-mortem study, in which the toxicological examination of biological materials together with the autopsy findings would suggest potential lethality of this plant.

The Power of Social Attribution: Perspectives on the Healing Efficacy of Ayahuasca

During the last decades, ayahuasca gained much popularity among non-Indigenous and out-of-Amazonia based populations. In popular culture, it has been advertised as a natural remedy that was discovered by Indigenous peoples ante millennia and that has been used for shamanic healing of all kinds of ailments. This “neo-shamanic,” and often recreational, use of ayahuasca, however, has to be distinguished from traditional Indigenous praxes on the one hand, and, on the other hand, from medical investigation in the modern world. The former, Indigenous use mainly understands ayahuasca as an amplifying power for interacting with non-human beings in the animal, plant, or spirit realms. Within this paradigm, efficacy is not dependent on the drug, but on the correct communication between the healer (or sorcerer) and the non-human powers that are considered real and powerful also without resorting to ayahuasca. The latter, modern mode of understanding, contrastingly treats the neurochemical processes of MAO inhibition and dimethyltryptamine activity as trigger mechanisms for a series of psychological as well as somatic responses, including positive outcomes in the treatment of various mental conditions. I argue that there is an ontological incommensurability occurring especially between the Indigenous and medicinal concepts of ayahuasca use (with recreational use in its widest understanding trying to make sense from both sides). Modern medical applications of ayahuasca are so fundamentally different from Indigenous concepts that the latter cannot be used to legitimate or confirm the former (and vice versa). Finally, the deep coloniality in the process of appropriation of the Indigenous by the modern has to be questioned and resolved in any case of ayahuasca application.

A phenomenology of subjectively relevant experiences induced by ayahuasca in Upper Amazon vegetalismo tourism

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 the interviews. Previously, a demographic questionnaire was given. The dose–response connection was uncontrolled, which is typical for this naturalistic setting.

Results

The typical structure of spontaneously reported experiences includes: personal preparation, physical symptoms, visual phenomena, cognitive and emotional phenomena, reactions of the individual within the psychedelic “world” as well as within ordinary reality, and appraisal to the process. Emotional reactions were subsumed under pleasant (psychotherapeutic “target emotions” and hedonistic emotions) and unpleasant emotions. For a majority, the presence of psychotherapeutic target emotions seemed to involve the presence of unpleasant emotions in the same session – possibly as transitional emotional states.

Conclusions

This suggests that psychodynamic processes, for example, possible activation of emotional conflicts – can take place spontaneously, during ayahuasca intake in this particular setting. Some participants attributed symbolic meaning to the visionary content, which was more likely to take place in psychotherapeutically motivated clients. The specific setting influence as well as corresponding expectations of the participants in native wisdom could have considerable influence on experiences and interpretations, such as communication with entities as well as receiving personal teachings.