text: A psychedelic drink used for centuries in healing ceremonies is now attracting the attention of biomedical scientists as a possible treatment for depression. Researchers from Brazil last month published results from the first clinical test of a potential therapeutic benefit for ayahuasca, a South American plant-based brew. Although the study included just six volunteers and no placebo group, the scientists say that the drink began to reduce depression in patients within hours, and the effect was still present after three weeks. They are now conducting larger studies that they hope will shore up their findings. 
   
   The work forms part of a renaissance in studying the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelic or recreational drugs—research that was largely banned or restricted worldwide half a century ago. Ketamine, which is used medically as an anaesthetic, has shown promise as a fast-acting antidepressant; psilocybin, a hallucinogen found in ‘magic mushrooms’, can help to alleviate anxiety in patients with advanced-stage cancer; MDMA (ecstasy) can alleviate post-traumatic stress disorder; and patients who experience debilitating cluster headaches have reported that LSD eases their symptoms. 
   
   Ayahuasca, a sacramental drink traditionally brewed from the bark of a jungle vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and the leaves of a shrub (Psychotria viridis), contains ingredients that are illegal in most countries. But a booming ayahuasca industry has developed in South America, where its religious use is allowed, and where thousands of people each year head to rainforest retreats to sample its intense psychedelic insights. 
   
   Depression drink? 
   
   The brew has been studied by anthropologists, social scientists and theologians, but clinical research on ayahuasca has been limited to observation of its effects in mice and rats, and in healthy human volunteers, including brain-imaging studies and retrospective surveys of past use. 
   
   For the latest study, researchers led by Jaime Hallak, a neuroscientist at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, gave one mild dose of ayahuasca to six volunteers who had been diagnosed with mild to severe depression that was unresponsive to at least one conventional antidepressant drug. None had drunk ayahuasca before. 
   
   After their drink, the participants sat in a quiet, dimly lit room. Physicians used standard clinical questionnaires to track their depression symptoms. Improvements were seen in two or three hours (though the psychedelic effects of an oral dose take around five hours to wear off)—a rapid effect, as conventional antidepressants can take weeks to work. The benefits, which were statistically significant, continued to hold up in assessments over the next three weeks. Three of the participants vomited, a common side effect of ayahuasca, but otherwise the procedure was well tolerated, Hallak says. 
   
   “It is a proof of concept of what so many ritual ayahuasca users already know: ayahuasca can help one feel extra well, not just during the experience, but for up to days or weeks after,” says Brian Anderson, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study but has published papers on the drink’s potential. “The relationship between ayahuasca’s psychedelic effects and its therapeutic effects needs to be empirically studied,” he says. 
   
   James Stone, a psychiatrist at King’s College London who has studied the effects of psychoactive drugs on the brain, says that the study is interesting but should be viewed with caution because it had no placebo group. “Placebo response is a well-documented effect in clinical trials of antidepressants,” he says. “The only things that can really be concluded from this study are that it is tolerated by patients with depression, and in these people did not seem to have any serious side effects following a single dose.” 
   
   It is biochemically plausible that ayahuasca could treat depression—its plants contain compounds that alter the concentrations of the mood-regulating neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain—as do commercial antidepressants. These compounds include the hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine, which binds to serotonin receptors, and also the chemicals harmine, tetrahydroharmine and harmaline, which are thought to inhibit an enzyme called monoamine oxidase A and so prevent the breakdown of serotonin and other neurotransmitters. 
   
   “It is possible that ayahuasca and other serotonergic psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, may be useful as antidepressants for particular subsets of patients in the future,” says Stone. “We await the results of well-designed, random controlled trials to determine clinical effectiveness.” 
   
   Further trials are under way. Draulio de Araujo, a neuroscientist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, Brazil, and a co-author of the study, says that his team has already treated 46 (out of a planned 80) patients in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ayahuasca and depression that began in January 2014. “We hope to finish it by the end of this year,” he says. 
   
   This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on April 6, 2015. ||||| Deep in the Amazon basin, shaman prepare a natural tea called ayahuasca to bring its drinkers to hallucinogenic states of revelation. People come to the region from all over the world to take ayahuasca in order to make better contact with their emotions within or the spirits beyond--or simply to try the drug recreationally. But more recently scientists have been investigating ayahuasca as a treatment for psychological conditions such as PTSD and anxiety. Now a team of Brazilian researchers is testing the potion to treat depression, with promising preliminary results. They published their work recently in the journal Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria (translation: Brazilian Review Of Psychiatry). 
   
   Ayahuasca is made from a jungle vine and shrub leaves and contains the chemical dimethyltryptamine, which makes it illegal in most countries (though many allow its consumption for religious purposes). Consuming the brew is notoriously hard on the system, resulting in excessive vomiting, disorientation, and occasionally death, but that doesn’t stop thousands of “ayahuasca tourists” from seeking it out every year. Though ayahuasca and the rituals surrounding it have been studied by social scientists and anthropologists, study of its medicinal properties has been limited to animal studies and a few with healthy volunteers. But researchers suspected that some of the compounds in ayahuasca change the concentration of mood-altering serotonin in the brain, as do commercial antidepressants. 
   
   In the study, the researchers gave doses of ayahuasca to six participants with depression for whom commercial antidepressants hadn’t been effective. As they sat in a dimly lit room, the researchers asked them questions from clinical questionnaires to track their symptoms. They found that the symptoms of depression decreased three hours after taking the ayahusaca (a typical trip lasts five hours) and they felt the positive effects for up to three weeks. 
   
   It’s important to note that there was no control group for this study, and there were very few participants, so the results should be taken with a grain of salt. However, the researchers are currently working on a study of similar design with many more participants that will track the symptoms for much longer after the participants take the ayahuasca. ||||| For centuries, Amazonian shamans have been brewing ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic plant-based tea, for use in traditional healing ceremonies. 
   
   Now, the substance has caught the attention of not only the American tourists and spiritual seekers traveling to South America to participate ayahuasca retreats, but also medical researchers, who are investigating ayahuasca (also known as the "spirit vine") as a treatment for mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. 
   
   This week, the results of the first clinical trial investigating ayahuasca as a treatment for depression were published in the Brazilian Review of Psychiatry. Its publication marks a promising early step toward clinical use of the psychotropic substance as a treatment for depression and other mental health problems. 
   
   For the small study, neuroscientists at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil gave ayahuasca to volunteers who had been diagnosed with depression that proved resistant to at least one type of antidepressant. The researchers observed reduced depression in all participants within two to three hours of ingesting the substance, and also after a three-week follow-up. 
   
   The preliminary study had a very small sample size of only six participants. The study's conclusions are further limited by the absence of a placebo group, but they do suggest the plant holds promise as a fast-acting treatment for depression. 
   
   "This is an area that really does merit further work and serious consideration," Dr. Brian Anderson, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, who has also conducted medical anthropological work on ayahuasca, told The Huffington Post. "There's a need for effective treatments that can work in the short term. A lot of our current depression treatments take weeks to use, when we think about pills or psychotherapies." 
   
   So how does the brew provide both immediate and lingering relief from depressive symptoms? Like pharmaceutical antidepressants, ayahuasca seems to alter concentrations of the mood-boosting neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. 
   
   “It is possible that ayahuasca and other serotonergic psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, may be useful as antidepressants for particular subsets of patients in the future,” King's College psychiatrist James Stone, who has studied the effects of psychedelic drugs on the brain, told Nature. 
   
   Another possible way ayahuasca may alleviate feelings of depression is through its active ingredient, the psychoactive chemical DMT (dimethyltryptamine), which is known to induce spiritual experiences and revelations. 
   
   Larger, placebo-controlled trials using ayahuasca for depression are already underway. Another group of Brazilian researchers are about halfway through a double-blind trial that will be conducted on 80 participants, Nature reported. 
   
   Ayahuasca joins other psychedelics including MDMA, LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) as substances scientists are investigating as treatments for depression. However, even in controlled settings, the use of ayahuasca and other psychedelics isn't without risk. There are some case reports of people experiencing psychological distress after using ayahuasca, and it's possible in some cases the hallucinogen could worsen symptoms of depression. 
   
   Still, the research offers reason for optimism. 
   
   "This study is helpful because it's actually documenting, in a structured hospital setting, that this is being done safely," Anderson said.
target: – A psychedelic brew from the jungles of Brazil shows promise as a treatment for depression—in fact, as a treatment for those who don't respond to more traditional medication. Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo have just published the results of the first clinical trial involving the anti-depressant effects of ayahuasca, a centuries-old drink made from jungle vine and shrubs long used in religious ceremonies in South America, reports Scientific American. Patients began to feel better within a couple of hours—conventional medications can take weeks to kick in—and the beneficial effects lasted for three weeks. The "psychedelic" part wore off after about five hours. "This is an area that really does merit further work and serious consideration," a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, not involved with the study tells the Huffington Post. "There's a need for effective treatments that can work in the short term." Like conventional anti-depressant medications, the chemical compounds in ayahuasca seem to alter the brain's level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates mood. Popular Science highlights one "grain of salt" aspect of the study: It was small, with just six participants, and it did not have a placebo group. But more studies are under way, and a much larger one at at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte should wrap up this year. (Another study finds that talk therapy is effective at preventing suicides.)