Exploring the therapeutic potential of Ayahuasca: acute intake increases mindfulness-related capacities

This observational study (n=25) found that ayahuasca intake led to significant increases in mindfulness comparable to those obtained after extensive mindfulness practice. The authors argue that this effect may be the mediating factor responsible for ayahuasca’s observed therapeutic potential.

Abstract

Background: Ayahuasca is a psychotropic plant tea used for ritual purposes by the indigenous populations of the Amazon. In the last two decades, its use has expanded worldwide. The tea contains the psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), plus β-carboline alkaloids with monoamine-oxidase-inhibiting properties. Acute administration induces an introspective dream-like experience characterized by visions and autobiographic and emotional memories. Studies of long-term users have suggested its therapeutic potential, reporting that its use has helped individuals abandon the consumption of addictive drugs. Furthermore, recent open-label studies in patients with treatment-resistant depression found that a single ayahuasca dose induced a rapid antidepressant effect that was maintained weeks after administration. Here, we conducted an exploratory study of the psychological mechanisms that could underlie the beneficial effects of ayahuasca.

Methods: We assessed a group of 25 individuals before and 24 h after an ayahuasca session using two instruments designed to measure mindfulness capacities: The Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Experiences Questionnaire (EQ).

Results: Ayahuasca intake led to significant increases in two facets of the FFMQ indicating a reduction in judgmental processing of experiences and in inner reactivity. It also led to a significant increase in decentering ability as measured by the EQ. These changes are classic goals of conventional mindfulness training, and the scores obtained are in the range of those observed after extensive mindfulness practice.

Conclusions: The present findings support the claim that ayahuasca has therapeutic potential and suggest that this potential is due to an increase in mindfulness capacities.”

Authors: Joaquim Soler, Matilde Elices, Alba Franquesa, Steven Barker, Pablo Friedlander, Amanda Feilding, Juan C. Pascual & Jordi Riba

Summary

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a psychotropic plant tea used for ritual purposes by the indigenous populations of the Amazon. It has been shown to induce an introspective dream-like experience characterized by visions and autobiographic and emotional memories.

Ayahuasca intake led to significant increases in mindfulness and decentering ability, as measured by the FFMQ and EQ.

Introduction

Ayahuasca is a psychotropic beverage prepared by infusing in water the stalk of Banisteriopsis caapi together with the leaves of Psychotria viridis or Diplopterys cabrerana. It is used for ritual and medical purposes in Amazonian traditions, and has been used in North American and European countries.

Ayahuasca is receiving increased attention from the general public and biomedical researchers for its therapeutic potential. Studies of long-term users suggest that ayahuasca may have beneficial effects for individuals with substance use disorders and may also have potential to treat other psychiatric conditions. Ayahuasca-induced subjective experience is analogous to mindfulness practice as understood by contemporary Western psychological conceptualizations. Both practices induce similar effects on other domains including increased awareness, changes in self-perspective, decreased hopelessness, and positive impact on general well-being.

The present study aimed to explore the effects of ayahuasca use on mindfulness-related measures.

Participants and study procedure

The investigators recruited 25 individuals (14 females) involved in ayahuasca use. All had abstained from ayahuasca for at least 15 days before assessment, and none consumed alcohol, medications, or any other drugs in the day prior to ayahuasca intake nor in the 24 h thereafter.

Ayahuasca was taken in a non-religious setting, in a dimly lit room, with recorded music playing throughout the session. Participants could freely leave the room to go to the bathroom.

Participants were asked to respond to questionnaires during the 24 h prior to and 24 h following an ayahuasca session.

Participants ingested ayahuasca in moderate doses, averaging 43.6 mg DMT. Alkaloid concentrations were determined using a method implementing liquid cromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry.

Measures

The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) measures five different factors: observe, describe, act with awareness, non-judge, and non-react. Participants were asked to rate the degree of concordance with each statement on a 5-point Likert scale that ranges from 1 (never or very rarely, true) to 5 (very often or always, true).

The Experiences Questionnaire (EQ) measures decentering, defined as the capacity to observe one’s thoughts and emotions as temporary events of the mind.

To explore if the changes induced by ayahuasca could be comparable to those induced by meditation practice, the MINDSENS Composite Index was calculated.

Data analysis

Ayahuasca session (before vs. after) was analyzed using repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and a second analysis introducing previous experience with ayahuasca as a covariate.

Results

The MINDSENS composite index and the EQ score increased following the ayahuasca session. Two of the five subscales of the FFMQ also showed significant increases.

The introduction of prior experience with ayahuasca as a covariate did not significantly modify the results of the MINDSENS composite index, EQ questionnaire score, or FFMQ Non-Judge and Non-React subscales.

Discussion

The present study aimed to explore the effects of ayahuasca intake on mindfulness capacities. The results indicated that ayahuasca intake leads to a rapid increase in several mindfulness-related parameters, including decentering ability, judgmental processing of personal experiences, and inner reactivity.

The scores in some mindfulness capacities observed after ayahuasca are analogous to those of experienced meditators. This indicates that improvements in mindfulness capacities are not exclusive to mindfulness meditation practice.

The results showed that not all mindfulness facets were equally affected by ayahuasca, and that certain facets such as BObserve, BNon-react, and BDecentering were more sensitive to formal meditation practice than others.

Ayahuasca could contribute to the therapeutic effects of mindfulness by increasing self-acceptance, since the attitudinal component of mindfulness is particularly impaired in patients with psychopathology.

The ayahuasca experience may induce an introspective exposure to emotional memories, similar to that used in emotional reprocessing interventions. This detached relationship with one’s own emotions is called Bdecentering.

Decentering capacity is diminished in individuals with cocaine use disorders, eating disorders, major depression, and borderline personality disorder. However, ayahuasca can enhance this capacity, which may explain its therapeutic effects in depression.

Our results are in line with the recent research exploring the therapeutic potential of other psychedelic 5-HT2A agonists, which have shown promising results in reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms related to illness. Regular use of psychedelics is associated with differences in brain structure relative to non-users, including thinning in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), a key hub of the default mode network. This finding suggests that regular ayahuasca use may lead to default mode network deactivation.

The current findings should be taken as preliminary, as the study was intended as exploratory and has some limitations. However, the results suggest that ayahuasca can enhance mindfulness capacities even when the baseline level is high, and that a single dose can enhance these abilities.

In summary, the present study provides evidence that ayahuasca has therapeutic potential. Further research is warranted to test whether the benefits are maintained over time.

Study details

Compounds studied
Ayahuasca

Topics studied
Depression Anxiety

Study characteristics
Survey

Participants
25

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