Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Institute of Legal Medicine, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2021 Jul;238(7):1899-1910. doi: 10.1007/s00213-021-05817-8. Epub 2021 Mar 10.
Ayahuasca is a plant concoction containing N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and certain β-carboline alkaloids from South America. Previous research in naturalistic settings has suggested that ingestion of ayahuasca can improve mental health and well-being; however, these studies were not placebo controlled and did not control for the possibility of expectation bias. This naturalistic observational study was designed to assess whether mental health changes were produced by ayahuasca or by set and setting. Assessments were made pre- and post-ayahuasca sessions in 30 experienced participants of ayahuasca retreats hosted in the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. Participants consumed ayahuasca (N = 14) or placebo (N = 16). Analysis revealed a main effect of time on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Compared to baseline, symptoms reduced in both groups after the ceremony, independent of treatment. There was a main treatment × time interaction on implicit emotional empathy, indicating that ayahuasca increased emotional empathy to negative stimuli. The current findings suggest that improvements in mental health of participants of ayahuasca ceremonies can be driven by non-pharmacological factors that constitute a placebo response but also by pharmacological factors that are related to the use of ayahuasca. These findings stress the importance of placebo-controlled designs in psychedelic research and the need to further explore the contribution of non-pharmacological factors to the psychedelic experience.
安非他命是一种来自南美洲的植物混合物，含有 N，N-二甲基色胺（DMT）和某些β-咔啉生物碱。先前在自然环境中的研究表明，摄入安非他命可以改善心理健康和幸福感；然而，这些研究没有安慰剂对照，也没有控制期望偏差的可能性。这项自然观察研究旨在评估心理健康的变化是由安非他命还是由设定和环境引起的。在荷兰、西班牙和德国举办的安非他命静修会上，对 30 名有经验的安非他命参与者在安非他命疗程前后进行了评估。参与者服用了安非他命（N=14）或安慰剂（N=16）。分析显示，时间对抑郁、焦虑和压力症状有主要影响。与基线相比，仪式后两组的症状都有所减轻，与治疗无关。在隐性情绪同理心方面，存在治疗×时间的主要相互作用，表明安非他命增加了对负面刺激的情绪同理心。目前的研究结果表明，安非他命仪式参与者的心理健康改善可能是由构成安慰剂反应的非药理学因素驱动的，但也可能是与安非他命使用相关的药理学因素驱动的。这些研究结果强调了在迷幻研究中使用安慰剂对照设计的重要性，以及需要进一步探索非药理学因素对迷幻体验的贡献。
