The largest randomized psychedelic trial in history happened in Brazil. Its strangest finding isn’t about ayahuasca at all.
Saved you a click, “they get even happier”.
Dont you just hate click bait titles and the assholes who post them.
What happened was that the people who self-rated themselves as happy before the experience saw virtually no improvement after the experience. Most of the positive outcomes were due to the people who stated they were distressed before the experience.
Also, this link is not pay walled, btw.
from the actual study:
“In contrast the only statistically significant effect we find for non-distressed individuals is a positive, but fleeting, effect on happiness (Figure 2C).”
Pages 17 and 18 of the original study.
https://mattjlowe.github.io/files/Francois Lowe Matavelli (18dec25) Psychedelics.pdf
Seems subscription walled to me. I only see a useless couple of intro paragraphs. Better to link to the actual study instead of a medium blog.
Really? This link should be behind a pay wall: https://medium.com/cabbanis/what-happens-when-a-happy-person-takes-ayahuasca-f793d5685cdf?sk=c6c6098f7d39b352e474a0546fd73795
Yes, it’s behind some kind of wall for me. I don’t know for certain that it’s a pay wall, it might be available to free subscribers or whatever, but I’m not gonna sign up whether it’s paid of not. I dislike Medium and would rather see the study directly than see someone clickbaiting over it.
Here it is, in case it was unaccessible before:
https://mattjlowe.github.io/files/Francois Lowe Matavelli (18dec25) Psychedelics.pdf
WTF: Let economists control and study your trip? Surprised it’s only 1 in 8 bad trips (which is worse than normal). Not for me, and yeah it’s right there in the abstract, 200x financial gain. FU.
Otherwise unsurprising, psychedelics help depression and neuronal plasticity, shocker.
They were not present. The ceremonies were conducted by a center in Brazil that receives over 1400 people per year. I meant to say that the data and analysis were coordinated and published by a group of economists.
Thanks for that, the thought was awful. Blessed be :)
“A commercial center that receives 1400 tourists per year.”
An intimate sporting retreat just like the ancient shamans intended it.
The cost is 20 dollars. It’s basically for free.
Its not really about the money, just that “life changing psychedelic experience” is being turned into a commercial commodity.
I do understand it, the tourism was already happening, shamans in high demand. Might as well streamline the experience.
It just feels wrong though.
This is from Wikipedia:
“It is believed that the Shipibo-Konibo are among the earliest practitioners of Ayahuasca ceremonies, with their connection to the brew and ceremonies surrounding it dating back centuries, perhaps a millennium.[19]
Some members of the Shipibo community have taken to the media to express their views on Ayahuasca entering the mainstream, with some calling it “the commercialization of ayahuasca.” Some of them have even expressed their worry regarding the increased popularity, saying “the contemporary ‘ayahuasca ceremony’ may be understood as a substitute for former cosmogonical rituals that are nowadays not performed anymore.”[20]”
At the same time, even in ancient African religions like the Yoruba, payment is necessary for a shaman to conduct a ceremony, as the exchange of value is an intrisical part of the ceremony.
These ceremonies in Brazil are non profit and the payment is a donation and is often waived.
Research the most popular groups like Santo Daime, Uniao Vegetal and the Universalists (the ones in the article).
You can tell it’s an econ study when the premise is pointless, the experiment is pseudo-science, and the results are worthless.
Eh, valid, but the results were interesting. I mean I prefer double blind procedures, but good science can be done without.
I have participated in these trials in the u.s. i just thought I was hallucinating with myself and everyone was naked, and I was sober but could not remember if this was my party or these young people were trolling me. Truth was, I am a fuddy duddy.
Are you serious? I am super curious to know more about your experience, if you don’t mind sharing.
This particular study was not a clinical trial; it was a field experiment where participants in a religious ritual in Brazil filled a self-assessment questionnaire to measure the outcomes of the ayahuasca ceremony. This article was not peer-reviewed and is basically an explorative article rather than a rigid study, so I think your experience was different.
I have never taken DMT or anything associated. I just managed to be there for everyone else doing it and offering it to be. I’d didn’t have a reason to refuse, I was just super paranoid.
I was offered it from a vape pen once, and I gave it a try, and the only thing I really noticed was that two-dimensional images looked three-dimensional, and I felt really warm, and as it faded, it kind of felt like a rush of heat went through my bladder, which made me feel like I needed to pee.
It was interesting, it was over in like three minutes, but I probably wouldn’t do it again unless I was actually going for psychological benefits.
Oh, I just remembered there was one other side effect, which is weird, as like somehow after doing that, I immediately knew I could write with my right hand almost as well as I could with my left hand, and I tried it, and I could, even though it was still weird and awkward, like I was doing difficult math problems in college again.
I feel like if I kept it up I could become fully ambidextrous now.
