This book offers a series of perspectives on the therapeutic potential of the ritual and clinical use of the Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca in the treatment and management of various disorders. This book presents biomedical and anthropological data on the use of ayahuasca and provides critiques on how it is used for treating depression, PTSD, anxiety, substance dependence, and eating disorders. The volume also explores ayahuasca’s role in the psychological well-being and quality of life of humans, and discusses possibilities of it enhancing cognition and coping with grief. The book examines ayahuasca’s association with psychotherapy and also highlights the challenges of integrating plant medicines into psychiatry. Further, the book expands on some preliminary research with animals, suggesting that ayahuasca acts at multiple levels of neural complexity. The study on the neurogenic effects of ayahuasca alkaloids opens a new avenue of research with potential applications ranging from psychiatric disorders to brain damage and dementia. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals will find this book relevant to their work regarding substance abuse and alternative medicine.

This book presents a series of perspectives on the therapeutic potential of the ritual and clinical use of the Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca in the treatment and management of various diseases and ailments, especially its role in psychological well-being and substance dependence. Biomedical and anthropological data on the use of ayahuasca for treating depression, PTSD, and substance dependence in different settings, such as indigenous contexts, neo-shamanic rituals, contemporary therapeutic circles, and in ayahuasca religions, in both South and North America, are presented and critiqued. Though multiple anecdotal reports on the therapeutic use of ayahuasca exist, there has been no systematic and dense reflection on the topic thus far. The book brings the therapeutic use of ayahuasca to a new level of public examination and academic debate. The texts in this volume stimulate discussion on methodological, ethical, and political aspects of research and will enhance the development of this emergent field of studies.

An insider’s account of the journey to become an ayahuasquero, a shaman who heals with the visionary vine ayahuasca • Details the author’s training and life as a curandero using ayahuasca medicine, San Pedro cactus, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms, and other visionary plants • Offers first-hand accounts of miraculous healing where ayahuasca revealed the cause of the illness, including how the author healed his mother from liver cancer • Shows how “ayahuasca tourism” symbolizes the Western world’s reawakening need to connect with the universal life force For more than 20 years American-born Alan Shoemaker has apprenticed and worked with shamans in Ecuador and Peru, learning the traditional methods of ayahuasca preparation, the ceremonial rituals for its use, and how to commune with the healing spirit of this sacred plant as well as the spirit of the San Pedro cactus and other sacred plant allies. Now a recognized and practicing ayahuasquero, or ayahuasca shaman, in Peru, he offers an insider’s account of the ayahuasca tradition and of its use for expanding consciousness and achieving healing through access to other dimensions of being. Shoemaker details his training and his own curandero practice using ayahuasca medicine, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms, and other visionary plants. He discusses the different traditions of his two foremost teachers and mentors, Don Juan in the Peruvian Amazon, an ayahuasquero, and Valentin in Ecuador, a San Pedro shaman. He reveals the indispensable role played by icaros, the healing songs of the plant shaman, and offers firsthand accounts of miraculous healing resulting from ayahuasca’s ability to reveal the cause of an illness, including how he healed his mother from liver cancer. The author also addresses the rising popularity of Northerners traveling to the Amazon to seek healing and mind expansion through ayahuasca and shows how this fascination is triggered by humanity’s reawakening need to connect to the universal life force.

• Examines how ayahuasca affects the brain from a neuroscientific perspective and how its effects on consciousness relate to ancient esoteric texts • Shares interviews with people who have experienced ayahuasca’s powerful “spirit doctor” effects and the author’s own ayahuasca journey from suicidal depression to a soul at peace • Investigates how ayahuasca is interwoven with the ancient practices of Amazonian shamanism Brewed from a combination of two plants--the leaves of Psychotria viridis and the vine stalks of Banisteriopsis caapi--ayahuasca has been used for millennia by indigenous tribes throughout the Upper Amazon for healing and spiritual exploration. The shamans of the Peruvian Amazon call the plant spirit within the vine Abuela Ayahuasca, Grandmother Ayahuasca. Exploring the history, lore, traditional use, psychoactive effects, and current scientific studies, Christian Funder reveals how Grandmother Ayahuasca is a profound healer, wise teacher, and life-changing guide. Examining ayahuasca from a neuroscientific perspective, the author looks at recent research on the effects of DMT--one of the psychoactive compounds in ayahuasca--as well as fMRI studies of brain activity during altered states. He explores these fi ndings as they relate to the teachings on unified states of consciousness in ancient esoteric texts and to Aldous Huxley’s theory of psychedelics inhibiting the “reducing valve” mechanism of the brain. Sharing interviews with people who have experienced ayahuasca’s powerful “spirit doctor” effects, Funder also details his own revolutionary ayahuasca healing journey from suicidal depression to a soul at peace. He explores ayahuasca’s relationship to indigenous Amazonian shamanism, including an inside look at the Shipibo tribe and the healing songs known as icaros. Offering a holistic picture of ayahuasca--from science to spirit--the author shows that this venerated hallucinogenic tea has immense therapeutic potential and just might be the long-lost shamanic connection to the sacred Gaian mind.

This is a book about the intersections of three dimensions. The first is the way social scientists and historians treat the history of psychiatry and healing, especially as it intersects with psychedelics. The second encompasses a reflection on the substances themselves and their effects on bodies. The third addresses traditional healing, as it circles back to our understanding of drugs and psychiatry. The chapters explore how these dimensions are distinct, but deeply intertwined, themes that offer important insights into contemporary healing practices. The intended audience of the volume is large and diverse: neuroscientists, biologists, medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists; mental health professionals interested in the therapeutic application of psychedelic substances, or who work with substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and PTSD; patients and practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine; ethnobotanists and ethnopharmacologists; lawyers, criminologists, and other specialists in international law working on matters related to drug policy and human rights, as well as scholars of religious studies, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians; social scientists concerned both with the history of science, medicine, and technology, and concepts of health, illness, and healing. It has a potentially large international audience, especially considering the increasing interest in “psychedelic science” and the growing spread of the use of traditional psychoactives in the West.

Used for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of the Amazon rain forest, the mystical brew ayahuasca is now becoming increasingly popular in the West. Psychologist Rachel Harris here shares her own healing experiences and draws on her original research (the largest study of ayahuasca use in North America) into the powerful medicine’s effects on depression, addiction, PTSD, and anxiety. In this wide-ranging and personal exploration, Harris details ayahuasca’s risks and benefits, helping readers clarify their intentions and giving psychotherapists a template for transformative care and healing.

A science-based proposition about how to achieve spiritual healing using a proposed quantum model of the psyche. Fascinating chapters on quantum psychology covering the abstractions of the ego and subconscious, and how subpersonalities and entities control our lives. Find step by step advice to re-program the subconscious using techniques while immersed in your ayahuasca experience. By using simple quantum concepts, ayahuasca spiritual advisors, psychedelic-assisted therapists, and advanced ayahuasca practitioners will be able to adopt a common language with their clients and patients to effectively communicate and enroll them in their own healing processes. Richly illustrated with diagrams and images, this book explains with remarkable simplicity, quantum physics concepts as they relate to the proposed model of the psyche, and its practical applications for ayahuasca integration work, coaching, and spiritual healing. Bonus section containing nine intriguing stories describing in uncanny detail, the emotional breakthroughs experienced by some of the authors' ayahuasca session participants.