Personality, Psychopathology, Life Attitudes and Neuropsychological Performance among Ritual Users of Ayahuasca: A Longitudinal Study

PLoS One

Xavier Fernández¹  Jordi Riba²  Débora González²  Wladimyr Sena Araújo³  Manel J. Barbanoj⁴  José Carlos Bouso⁵  Miguel Ángel Alcázar-Córcoles⁶  Paulo César Ribeiro Barbosa⁷  Sabela Fondevila⁸  Josep Maria Fábregas⁹  Marta Cutchet^1,10 

[1] Center UCM-ISCIII for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain;Centre d’Investigació de Medicaments. Servei de Farmacologia Clínica, Departament de Farmacologia i Terapèutica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain;Departamento de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil;Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain;Human Experimental Neuropsychopharmacology. IIB Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain;Independent Researcher, Barcelona, Spain;Instituto de Etnopsicología Amazónica Aplicada (IDEAA), Barcelona, Spain;International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service, ICEERS, Halsteren, Netherlands;Prefeitura Municipal de Rio Branco, Conselho Estadual de Educação do Estado do Acre, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil;Unidad Farmacología Humana y Neurociencias, Instituto de Investigación Hospital del Mar-IMIM, Parc de Salut Mar, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

关键词: Neuropsychological testing;    Religion;    Mental health and psychiatry;    Neuropsychology;    Urban environments;    Personality;    Psychometrics;    Brazil;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.pone.0042421

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Ayahuasca is an Amazonian psychoactive plant beverage containing the serotonergic 5-HT2A agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and monoamine oxidase-inhibiting alkaloids (harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine) that render it orally active. Ayahuasca ingestion is a central feature in several Brazilian syncretic churches that have expanded their activities to urban Brazil, Europe and North America. Members of these groups typically ingest ayahuasca at least twice per month. Prior research has shown that acute ayahuasca increases blood flow in prefrontal and temporal brain regions and that it elicits intense modifications in thought processes, perception and emotion. However, regular ayahuasca use does not seem to induce the pattern of addiction-related problems that characterize drugs of abuse. 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. Controls were actively participating in non-ayahuasca religions. Users showed higher Reward Dependence and Self-Transcendence and lower Harm Avoidance and Self-Directedness. They scored significantly lower on all psychopathology measures, showed better performance on the Stroop test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Letter-Number Sequencing task from the WAIS-III, and better scores on the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale. Analysis of life attitudes showed higher scores on the Spiritual Orientation Inventory, the Purpose in Life Test and the Psychosocial Well-Being test. Despite the lower number of participants available at follow-up, overall differences with controls were maintained one year later. In conclusion, we found no evidence of psychological maladjustment, mental health deterioration or cognitive impairment in the ayahuasca-using group.

【 授权许可】

CC BY