A study concerning the therapeutic use of Ayahuasca for homeless people of the city of São Paulo. Post-Doctoral research project, UFSC (anticipated conclusion: February, 2008).
The psychoactive beverage known as Ayahuasca have been used for at least 4000 years by the native people of the Amazon. The main active chemicals present in that drink are the beta-carbolines, from the vine Banisteriopsis caapi, and imethyltryptamine (DMT), from the leaves of Psychotria viridis. Both substances act on the serotonin level in the brain. Since the 1930’s Ayahuasca started to be used as a sacrament by three Brazilians religious systems, the Santo Daime, the Barquinha, and the União do Vegetal. Ayahuasca have been also used in many different ways, including therapeutically. The ritual use of Ayahuasca would cause a psychointegration of the nervous system. One of the main characteristics of the effects of Ayahuasca within a ritual context (considering that even when the use is therapeutic the ritual is kept) is the presence of spontaneous mental imagery, called mirações. Since 1999 a group called Ablusa have been using Ayahuasca during ritual specially designed for homeless people of São Paulo, in order to help them to improve the general quality of their lives. The main objective of this research is, then, to study the relationship between the mirações experienced by the participants of the ritual promoted by Ablusa (who identify themselves as having problems with the use of alcohol and/or other substances) and the modification of habits of the use of alcohol and other substances. This relationship is extremely complex, as, for example, I could shown in my PhD dissertation, due the many elements present on the function and origin of mirações. This is an area that, due the broadness of the theme, needs to be explored more deeply.