Ayahuasca, Personality and Acute Psychological Effects in Neo-Shamanic and Religious Settings in Uruguay

ABSTRACT

This study is an interdisciplinary research into Uruguayan ayahuasca users belonging to one neo-shamanic and one Santo Daime group. The study involved the chemical analysis of ayahuasca samples, an ethnographic description of the two traditions and rituals, and the application of psychometric scales to measure personality differences, and the acute psychological effects during an ayahuasca ritual. Personality measurements showed lower scores for Santo Daime in Neuroticism-Anxiety, Dependence, Low Self-Esteem, Anger and Restlessness. These differences may be related to the presence of participants under treatment in the neo-shamanic group and/or to the protective effects of a church religion such as Santo Daime. Regarding acute effects, the neo-shamanic group showed higher scores in Somesthesia and Perception, which can be related to the high-arousal ritual setting. Chemical analysis for the ayahuasca samples showed a typical composition of alkaloids. No adulterants were found. The sample from the neo-shamanic group displayed a higher β-carbolines:DMT ratio compared to the Santo Daime sample, which could be related to the higher effects observed for Somesthesia for the neo-shamanic group. Significant positive correlations between some personality traits and acute effects were found only in the neo-shamanic group, which may be related to the more individualistic approach of this tradition.

KEYWORDS:

• Ayahuasca
• Santo Daime
• ritual setting
• neo-shamanism
• personality
• acute psychological effects

Acknowledgments

We want to thank the neo-shamanic center, Santo Daime, and all the participants of the study.

The article presents the quantitative results of the project “Ayahuasca in Uruguay: ethnographic, psychological and pharmacological characterization of its ritual use”, funded by the National Drug Board (Junta Nacional de Drogas) and the Interdisciplinary Faculty of the Universidad de la República, and conducted by “Arché. Interdisciplinary Research Group on Psychedelics” from Universidad de la República (https://arche.ei.udelar.edu.uy/arche-interdisciplinary-research-group-on-psychedelics/).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2023.2261017

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Espacio Interdisciplinario, Universidad de la República [Convocatoria Semilleros Interdisciplinarios 2020]; Junta Nacional de Drogas, Presidencia de la República, Uruguay [Fondo concursable 2018].