Subjective time under altered states of consciousness in ayahuasca users in shamanistic rituals involving music.

A.P.S Campagnoli,J.L.O Bueno,L.A.S Pereira

doi:10.1590/1414-431x20209278

Abstract

Ayahuasca is described as a hallucinogenic substance whose property is to alter the subjective experience of time and impair the perception of the passage of time during stimuli of more than two to three seconds. The dose-dependent effects of two concentrations of ayahuasca in the ritualistic context were investigated employing temporal reproduction tasks in participants experienced in shamanistic ayahuasca rituals. The study was conducted on nine healthy volunteers who ingested two doses of ayahuasca at two times during a ritual session. The doses of each session, consumed in amounts ranging from 20 to 60 mL, were either of low concentration or of experimental ayahuasca according to a double-blind procedure. Participants performed the task of immediately listening and reproducing, with a laptop, 20-s musical stimuli during the session. The results showed that significant temporal distortion was triggered by the musical stimulus presented without the ingestion of ayahuasca, with means of 16.33 to 16.52 s. There were minor temporal distortions after ingestion of ayahuasca: a mean of 17.91 s for control ayahuasca and of 18.38 s for experimental ayahuasca. These results with less temporal distortion among participants with ayahuasca intake disagree with other studies of hallucinogens involving temporal reproduction.

Highlights

Natural substances extracted and developed from plants of the Amazon rainforest by the native people have been a focus of studies aimed at understanding the effects of altered states of consciousness on human psychological processes
Psychotria viridis contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is inactivated by monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO-A) in the liver when administered orally through first pass metabolism; Banisteriopsis caapi contains b-carbolines, reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI) [2]
The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of listening to musical stimuli on subjective time, as a function of two ayahuasca concentrations, on participants experienced with ayahuasca ritual practice during the shamanic ritual in the urban context

Summary

Introduction

Natural substances extracted and developed from plants of the Amazon rainforest by the native people have been a focus of studies aimed at understanding the effects of altered states of consciousness on human psychological processes. These altered states of consciousness can be assessed by recording subjective time changes among participants in shamanistic rituals, in indigenous villages, and in rituals practiced in the rural and urban context. The b-carbolines in ayahuasca act by inhibiting MAO, causing oral DMT to be active and reach the systemic circulation and the central nervous system, promoting new perceptions of reality such as mental images [3,4]. The psychoactive effects of ayahuasca start 30 to 60 min after ingestion, reaching a maximum intensity between 60 and 120 min, and can last up to four hours after ingestion [5]

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