The Transformative Power of Ayahuasca and the Impacts on Mental Health
If you have been suffering with mental health conditions and/or addiction, you may have discovered that entheogenic plants can often support us in dealing with and healing these conditions. On of these medicines, Ayahuasca, has been used for centuries to assist with mental, physical, and spiritual health, and she just may be what provides you the healing and relief you have been searching for.
What is Ayahuasca?
Before diving into what Ayahuasca can do for mental health, let’s understand what Ayahuasca is.
She is a plant-based brew from the Amazon that is comprised of two plants, the Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and Charcruna shrub (Psychotria viridis), that come together to create powerful decoction containing DMT and MAOIs. When joined, they become what we refer to as Ayahuasca, a plant based psychedelic that alters all of the senses, our thinking, emotions, and sense of time. While the active chemical is DMT, unlike taking synthetic DMT via smoking or other methods, working with this natural brew welcomes in the spirit of Ayahuasca to partner with us in many forms of healing, including dealing with mental issues like anxiety and depression.
First Nations peoples have known this for centuries, likely much longer, and have been using this medicine in religious rituals and personal healing in places like Peru, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador. In these regions, there are long standing traditions and practices working with Ayahuasca as a partner for healing and personal growth. Having passed this understanding down through the ages, these people have carried the wisdom of proper ways to access and integrate all that she has to offer in the safest way possible.
For this reason, not only is it safer to work with someone who has been highly trained when sitting with this medicine, but you are more likely to get better results as they deeply know how to work with the ways she communicates and moves energy. The combination of the power of ayahuasca coupled with the spiritual ritual guided by trained shamans amplifies the capacity for the desired effects including reducing anxiety, easing depression, and overcoming addiction.
Benefits of Ayahuasca for Mental Health Conditions
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The range of ways that Ayahuasca can support us with our mental health is vast and varied. She has been shown to have antidepressant effects that can even help people with treatment-resistant depression. She has also been shown to assist with anxiety and related disorders, PTSD, and substance abuse among others. In a large cross-sectional study by Science Direct, most participants reported their symptoms to be between very much or completely improved.
My personal understanding of how she achieves these results is only partially through the way that the components of the brew affect our brains physically as she has been shown to be as effective as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in reducing depressive symptoms. The real magic she wields is in helping us to dive deep into the things that are underneath the depression. She willingly carries us into our shadows, our trauma, our pain, and all of those things we do not want to look at which can both manifest as disorders and/or make them worse when not addressed.
I know that when I came to the medicine, I was beginning to emerge from a long and heavy dark night of the soul, complete with multiple extended bouts of depression. While the process may not always have been pretty, she loves us even in our mess and holds us as we learn to love our messiness too. Then, by healing the underlying causes of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, the results are greater as we can change the patterns and behaviors that led us into those spaces.
Other Mental Health Benefits From the Medicine
Ayahuasca has therapeutic benefits for anxiety disorder and can help to clear this from our nervous system as well as guide us to an understanding of what triggers the anxiety so we can restructure our routines, choices, and whatever else necessary to maintain the healing. She ushers in. In the same study mentioned above, 70% of the almost 12,000 participants said that their anxiety was very much improved, if not completely resolved, after working with ayahuasca.
Again, the significance of the ritual use of this medicine being important when working with her for good results can be found in a study by National Library of Medicine, where the impact of the traditions in which the study was performed as well as the communal effect of being within a healing community impacted healing. They show, in particular, that working with the medicine within a communal setting has a massive effect on healing addiction.
Ayahuasca Safety and Precautions
While there cannot be a guarantee of safety when working with these entheogenic medicines, there are things we can do to promote the best experience possible and avoid dangers.
First, it is incredibly important to properly vet the center and facilitators where you plan to sit. They play a significant role in holding the space and ensuring your safety. While the exact rules may vary a bit from different traditions, there is generally a restricted diet and other protocol to follow before, during, and after your retreat. These guidelines help not only to prepare the body to be more clear for the process but also protect you as well.
The facilitators should also discuss what medications and other substances should not be mixed with ayahuasca or be in use for certain periods of time prior to working with her. For example, she should not be combined with MAOIs or SSRIs. Discussing any physical or mental health issues and medications taken for them with your facilitator is absolutely essential for a safe journey. Even some other plant medicines should not be used simultaneously or for an amount of time before working with ayahuasca, so make sure that you discuss this with whoever is holding your ceremony as well.
Long-Term Effects of Working with Ayahuasca
Not only does Ayahuasca does not appear to have a long-term negative impact on the body or cognitive functioning, the opposite often happens. I have known her to at times rewire the brain in a way that enhances functioning of both the physical body as well as the mind. Long-term use of ayahuasca is not associated with negative mental health outcomes, and I can say that from my own experience she has the capacity to stabilize and support mental clarity and provide a deeper understanding of ourselves and how we show up in the world.
The Medicine for Profound Healing and Renewal
While there are always risks to be considered, the potential for ayahuasca to demonstrate therapeutic benefits for mental health conditions like treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, anxiety, and substance abuse is abundant. Caution must be taken in assessing your risks and contraindications particularly around heart conditions and medications, but if those are not an issue, sitting with an experienced guide could usher in a level of healing you may not have thought possible. Working with Ayahuasca can be a profound medicine for one’s healing and a path to opening a new beginning.
If you want to learn more about this sacred medicine or want Ayahuasca preparation or integration support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or our team of experienced guides and coaches!
About the Author
Lindsay Calliandra Rose is a Medicine Carrier, an accomplished herbalist, Plant Medicine integration specialist, and a woman with a profoundly sacred relationship with nature. She began her Plant Medicine journey many years ago with Ayahuasca and Huachuma, and she has completed multiple Master Plant Diets with beings like Rose, Bobinsana, Juniper, Jurema, Cacao, Oak, and Blue Water Lily. Lindsay is an initiated server and carrier of Hapéh. She now works as a preparation and integration guide for those answering the call to work with sacred medicines, and she is apprenticing in the art of guiding Master Plant Diets as well. She is a passionate advocate of safe and transformative experiences with the plants, and she loves helping people navigate these mysterious spaces with grace, love, and support.
