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All ICEERS’ studies are peer-reviewed, published in indexed and high-impact journals and follow the strictest methodological and ethical standards.
This study gathered data regarding the occurrence of adverse events in all reported randomized, placebo-controlled trials with healthy and clinical populations involving ayahuasca administration (n = 108 ayahuasca administrations).
This study assessed endocannabinoid (anandamide, AEA; 2-arachidonoylglycerol, 2-AG) plasma levels in healthy volunteers and in volunteers with social anxiety disorder (SAD) after a single oral dose of ayahuasca or placebo.
This study evaluates the impact of regular ayahuasca ceremony participation on health by assessing the health status of 377 participants in ayahuasca ceremonies in the Netherlands using validated health indicators.
This study investigates the effects of ayahuasca in volunteers with social anxiety disorder in a randomized, single-dose, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trial. Volunteers participated in an experimental session that included a simulated public-speaking test.
This study updated the previous systematic review evaluating quantitative preclinical and human studies assessing the efects of ayahuasca and its alkaloids on drug use and other psychological and cognitive measures related to substance use disorders.
The aim of this study was to assess the risk profile of ayahuasca use in a religious context. After reviewing the literature to identify important concerns and common adverse effects, the authors developed an instrument that inquired about the frequency of the following effects: anxiety, diaphoresis, diarrhea, disorientation, distress, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth, headache, irritability, nausea, restlessness, shivers, tachycardia, tinnitus, tremor, and vomiting.
This article presents data from two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials that evaluated the effects of ayahuasca on personality traits in healthy volunteers. Considering the evidence of associated changes in personality in other classic hallucinogens, and the antidepressive and anxiolytic effects of ayahuasca, the hypothesis was that ayahuasca would produce increases in Openness and Conscientiousness scores and decreases in Neuroticism scores.
The main objective of this pilot, proof-of-concept, randomized trial was to assess the effects of ayahuasca on the recognition of emotion in facial expressions (REFE), hypothesizing that ayahuasca would modify this parameter.
Over the course of one year, this prospective, observational non-controlled study, supported by ICEERS and the Beckley Foundation, examined the well-being and quality of life of 200 participants in a Shipibo healing program with ayahuasca, conducted by traditional healers. The results suggested that the Indigenous Shipibo healing work with ayahuasca has value to improve long-term well-being and quality of life for Westerners.
This study explores the extent to which one or other specific context, set, and setting may be more or less beneficial to the mental health and well-being of ayahuasca drinkers.
This article provides a case series of challenging psychological experiences found in a subsample of subjects from a previously published study in which the authors recruited ayahuasca-naive participants and followed them for 6 months after their first ayahuasca use.
Since ayahuasca use is expanding worldwide, the aim of this study was to observe the effects of ayahuasca on psychological and mental health variables in naïve users in order to help medical practitioners to understand possible adverse effects and potential therapeutic uses.
This study investigated the long-term effects of ayahuasca in participants who were grieving the death of a loved one, following a sample of subjects with a history of grief who willingly attended ayahuasca ceremonies at an ayahuasca center in Peru.
This article reviews the previous preclinical, experimental and clinical studies available in the scientific literature in order to provide further translational evidence of the antidepressant effects of ayahuasca.
Assessing the health status of ayahuasca users has been challenging due to the limitations involved in randomized clinical trials and psychometric approaches. The main objective of this study is the implementation of an approach based on public health indicators.
In October 2016, the authors were contacted by a 39-year-old man, Scotty Enyart, who claimed that ayahuasca improved his aphantasia. He was diagnosed with poor visual imagery in elementary, middle, and high schools.
The underlying psychological processes related to the use of ayahuasca in a psychotherapeutic context are not yet well described in the scientific literature, but there is some evidence to suggest that psychological variables described in psychotherapies could be useful in explaining the therapeutic effects of the brew.
In the present article, we review basic and clinical evidence supporting the possible beneficial effects of ayahuasca (and other serotonergic or classical hallucinogens) in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders in general, with a focus on social anxiety.
This article, intended for mental health professionals, reviews the most recent human studies about the effects of ayahuasca, a natural psychoactive concoction used for centuries by indigenous groups from Northwestern Amazonian countries.
The principal objective of this study was to explore the effects of ayahuasca on grief and to compare its potential therapeutic benefits with peer-support groups in a sample of grieving people. This study was a mixed method, cross-sectional study, using an online survey method.
The aim of this study was to present a systematic review of the cases in which psychotic events occurred after the acute effects of ayahuasca and DMT. The authors attempted to identify all studies available to review up to 16 August 2016 in which a possible association between ayahuasca/DMT intake and psychotic disorders was reported.
This letter to the editor, published in Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental vol. 32, is a reply to the commentary by Barret and Griffiths (2016) regarding our Spanish version of the MEQ‐30 (Bouso, Pedrero‐Pérez, Gandy, & Alcazar‐Corcoles, 2016).
In recent decades, the use of ayahuasca — a β-carboline- and dimethyltryptamine-rich hallucinogenic botanical preparation traditionally used by Northwestern Amazonian tribes for ritual and therapeutic purposes — has spread from South America to Europe and the USA, raising concerns about its possible toxicity and hopes of its therapeutic potential. Thus, it is important to analyze the acute, subacute, and long-term effects of ayahuasca to assess its safety and toxicity.
The subjective effects of psychedelic drugs are probably their most difficult aspect to measure. Therefore, we used novel psychometric data for the MEQ, HRS, and ARCI questionnaires, proposing preliminary new versions and/or alternative interpretations of the data.
This study, entitled “Ayahuasca and the Treatment of Drug Addiction,” constitutes the chapter number 6 in the book The Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca (pp. 95-109), published by Springer in November 2014 as part of a project called Psychoactive Plants and Public Health. Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Clancy Cavnar were the editors of this volume.
This chapter presents preliminary data obtained at the Instituto de Etnopsicología Amazónica Aplicada (IDEAA), placed at the Brazilian Amazon basin. The aim was to describe an observational study on the variations on personality, psychopathology, and neuropsychological measures in individuals treated with ayahuasca in this setting.
Ayahuasca, a South American psychotropic plant tea containing the psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine, has been shown to increase regional cerebral blood flow in prefrontal brain regions after acute administration to humans. Despite interactions at this level, neuropsychological studies have not found cognitive deficits in abstinent long-term users.
To study the impact of repeated ayahuasca use on general psychological well-being, mental health and cognition, here we assessed personality, psychopathology, life attitudes and neuropsychological performance in regular ayahuasca users (n = 127) and controls (n = 115) at baseline and 1 year later.
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