Studies lift the veil on psychedelic brew ayahuasca, its mental health benefits and potential to treat depression and trauma
- Ayahuasca is a powerful psychedelic, consumed in the form of a drink, that is used in the Amazon for ceremonial and therapeutic purposes
- Hong Kong psychologist WaiFung Tsang is a part of a team looking at its ability to reduce anxiety and treat mental health issues
Research psychologist and musician WaiFung Tsang used to spend his days working in mental health clinics and nights immersed in Hong Kong’s underground music scene. But it’s in the Peruvian rainforest where the 31-year-old feels most connected.
For the past few years Tsang, who is studying for a doctorate at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience of King’s College London, has been part of a research team studying ayahuasca.
A thick brown brew – typically a mixture of two Amazonian plants, the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and the chacruna bush (Psychotria viridis) – it has been used for centuries by Amazonian tribes in spiritual and therapeutic ceremonies.
The research by Tsang, psychiatrist Simon Ruffell and psychopharmacologist Nige Netzband took place at The Ayahuasca Foundation on a national reserve in the Amazon jungle, near Iquitos in Peru.