A new study of 11,912 ayahuasca users shows out of 7,785 respondents who suffered from anxiety and/or depression symptoms at the time of drinking ayahuasca, 94 percent reported relief from depression and 90 percent from anxiety.
In 2006, National Geographic Adventure ran what would become one of its most read articles of all time: a piece about journalist Kyra Sylak’s journey to the Amazon to take ayahuasca as medicine for her depression and PTSD. Her amazing long-term success inspired countless depression and anxiety sufferers to try ayahuasca, often with similarly rewarding results.
Since then, several trials have confirmed personal testimonies to this psychoactive Amazonian tea’s efficacy in treating depression and anxiety.
The latest data to back up these claims comes from the Global Ayahuasca Project, the largest-ever cross-sectional study of ayahuasca’s effects. Its results were recently published in Journal of Affective Disorders Reports.
Conducted between 2017 and 2020, this survey draws on the first-person accounts. The respondents who found the strongest relief from anxiety and depression symptoms tended to be the ones who described their ayahuasca experiences as profoundly mystical and/or marked by insights into personal relationships.
The study’s authors wrote, “Drinkers of Ayahuasca in naturalistic settings perceived remarkable benefits for their affective symptoms in this survey assessment. There is no obvious evidence of negative mental health effects being associated with long-term consumption.”
Leave a Reply