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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Experiences of Healing with Ayahuasca in the United States

Galinanes, Rebecca 01 January 2024 (has links) (PDF)
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew originating from the Amazon in South America. Commonly associated with religious use among indigenous and mestizo populations, ayahuasca has made its way to the United States, where it is currently criminalized as a Schedule I drug. Nevertheless, a church in the United States provides ayahuasca to its members as both a sacrament and tool for healing through spiritual retreat weekends. Based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with church members, volunteers, and staff in 2023, this thesis examines how members perceived the healing they experienced during multiple ayahuasca ceremonies and interactions with church volunteers and staff. By examining their personal experiences and the extra-drug variables of set and setting, I argue that members received guidance about the next steps in life from the ayahuasca experience itself and from the post-ceremony integration process led by the church. Members often saw this guidance as a path toward mental healing. In addition, members’ ayahuasca experiences were influenced by their intentions for drinking the brew and the overall supportive setting provided by volunteers and staff members. This thesis contributes to the growing body of literature on the renewed interest in psychedelic use for therapeutic purposes in the global north by analyzing ayahuasca use in the unique setting of a spiritual retreat in the United States.

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