Brian Rush, Olivia Marcus, Sara García, Anja Loizaga-Velder, Ariane Spitalier, Fernando Mendive
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: This article focuses on the outcomes at 1 year post-treatment of a naturalistic evaluation of services provided through the Takiwasi Centre, an accredited Peruvian therapeutic community offering an ayahuasca-assisted, integrative treatment program for addiction rehabilitation.
Method: Participants (n = 52) completed structured interviews and a battery of validated instruments. Outcome measures included the Addiction Severity Index (Version 5), the Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories, the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Spiritual Religious and Personal Belief (WHOQOL-SRPB) scale. Likert rating scales were used to assess perceived importance and significance of different aspects of the program and overall participant satisfaction.
Results: The group change from baseline to the 1-year follow-up was significant and in the anticipated direction for alcohol and drug use severity, depression and anxiety, and some dimensions of quality of life. There was considerable individual variation in outcomes and treatment duration. The majority of participants rated all aspects of the program as important, including the spiritual and therapeutic significance of the ayahuasca experience, which was rated as very significant.
Conclusions: Based on the positive 1-year outcomes, and within the limitations of an uncontrolled observational study design, the findings suggest promise for the effectiveness of the use of ayahuasca in a multifactorial treatment context for individuals with significant treatment histories, high levels of comorbidity, and treatment motivation. Results highlight considerable variation in individual experience that merit in-depth qualitative analysis. Implications for ayahuasca-assisted and other psychedelic-assisted treatment alternatives are discussed.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs began in 1940 as the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol. It was founded by Howard W. Haggard, M.D., director of Yale University’s Laboratory of Applied Physiology. Dr. Haggard was a physiologist studying the effects of alcohol on the body, and he started the Journal as a way to publish the increasing amount of research on alcohol use, abuse, and treatment that emerged from Yale and other institutions in the years following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In addition to original research, the Journal also published abstracts summarizing other published documents dealing with alcohol. At Yale, Dr. Haggard built a large team of alcohol researchers within the Laboratory of Applied Physiology—including E.M. Jellinek, who became managing editor of the Journal in 1941. In 1943, to bring together the various alcohol research projects conducted by the Laboratory, Dr. Haggard formed the Section of Studies on Alcohol, which also became home to the Journal and its editorial staff. In 1950, the Section was renamed the Center of Alcohol Studies.