Help us share important ayahuasca research findings with the world

Scientific evidence about ayahuasca has the potential to change health care, policy, and lead to an increased appreciation of indigenous Amazonian medicine practices. We’ve got new findings on ayahuasca and grief that were just published, and other papers on the way. We need your help to share these with the world.

In the science world, it takes financial resources to publish papers “open access” – a term that means that the findings are accessible openly and not behind paywalls. Otherwise, evidence remains accessible only to the academic community. We believe that knowledge should be accessible to everyone who might be able to benefit from it.

We need to raise €8,000 to publish a series of papers. The first has just been published and we need to come up with funds in the next 3 weeks to ensure that findings are shared with the world “open access.”

Background

Over the past 3 years, ICEERS has collaborated with the Beckley Foundation to conduct a large research initiative at the Temple of the Way of Light. Through this study, we have generated exciting new evidence on the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca in the context of indigenous Amazonian medicine.

Our team is now hard at work writing and analyzing data that will provide insight into how ayahuasca – as part of an ancestral, integrative system of healing – helps people struggling with complicated grief after the loss of a loved one, and helps individuals with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. The findings are also providing information on how the insights gained from these experiences catalyze personal growth and can have an impact on an individual’s personality.

As noted above, the first publication in the series, “Therapeutic potential of ayahuasca on grief: a prospective, observational study” has just been published by Springer’s Journal of Psychopharmacology. This is the second (and most important) article ever published that provides scientific evidence on the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca in bereavement.

The following three papers to be published are:

- The long-term effects on people with anxiety, depression and PTSD.
- The impact on wellbeing and personal/spiritual growth in non-religious participants
- Personality profiles in relation to ayahuasca’s effects and safety

This has been an incredible three years of collaborating and learning enabled by the quantitative and qualitative research that will allow us to continue forward momentum in this field. A big thank you to the Temple of the Way of Light for opening their doors to our researchers over such an extended period of time.