Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Ayahuasca

General description

Ayahuasca is a traditional psychoactive South-American brew. Its use is regulated in Brazil in native and religious settings. Ayahuasca has been the focus of a variety of recent human and animal studies on Pharmacology, Neuroscience and Psychiatry.
Although it has not been yet regulated for therapeutic use in Brazil, ayahuasca and its components – dimethyltryptamine and the harmala alkaloids – are currently under scientific scrutiny with encouraging results. Because of its legal status in this country, Brazil has major relevance regarding ayahuasca studies and offers a unique opportunity for those interested in studying novel medicinal agents, the scientific investigation of altered states of consciousness, interdisciplinary discussions among Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Psychology and Medicine, and the investigation of the therapeutic potentials of psychedelic agents. This has been a new and exciting field of research whose results are constantly reaching the general media and attracting the attention of scholars and students.
The University of Campinas and its School of Medical Sciences houses a research group that is focused on ayahuasca: ICARO – the Interdisciplinary Cooperation for Ayahuasca Research and Outreach. ICARO is headed by Prof. Luís Tófoli and is composed of scholars and students from several areas from many institutes at UNICAMP and other Brazilian universities: Psychiatry, Psychology, Pharmacy, Anthropology, Agricultural Research, Biology, Chemistry and Neuroscience. The group is able to offer in English a comprehensive and thorough perspective about ayahuasca, its plant constituents
and its interaction with humans. Moreover, ICARO is also structured in order to provide practical demonstrations on the management of ayahuasca plant species and the pharmaceutical management of ayahuasca and its constituents.

Workshop objectives

At the end of the workshop, students will be able to:
1. Describe what ayahuasca is, how it is used, what are its constituents, how it causes its effects and what are its possible clinical applications in the current state of the art.
2. Discuss the medical, psychological, neuroscientific, anthropological, pharmacological, chemical, botanical, bioethical and pharmaceutical aspects of ayahuasca;
3. Formulate a simple proposal about ayahuasca within their field of expertise.

Teaching methods

  • Lectures, discussions and active learning in classroom;
  • Visits with practical demonstrations in UNICAMP facilities related to the ICARO project (Faculty of Medical Sciences, Chemistry Institute and Chemical, Biological and Agricultural Pluridisciplinary Research Center).

Assessment

  • Presence and punctuality;
  • Individual task: writing an abstract and the objectives of a research proposal on ayahuasca within the student’s study area.

Duration: 1 week

Prerequisite: Fluent English

Who should atend?

  • Undergraduate, graduate students and professionals within knowledge areas correlated to ayahuasca (Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Pharmacy, Anthropology, Agricultural Research, Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience and others)
  • Up to 8 students

Faculty

Coordinators:

  • Luís Fernando Tófoli , MD, PhD (School of Medical Sciences, UNICAMP)

Faculty members:

  • Alessandra Sussulini, PhD (Chemistry Institute, UNICAMP)
  • Ílio Montanari Jr., agronomist, PhD (Chemical, Biological and Agricultural Pluridisciplinary Research Center)
  • José Luiz da Costa, pharmacist, PhD (School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UNICAMP)
  • Marili Rodrigues, pharmacist (Chemical, Biological and Agricultural Pluridisciplinary Research Center)
  • Paulo Moraes, psychologist, MSc (Professor at the Federal University of Rondônia; PhD candidate at the Federal University of São Paulo)
  • Rodney Rodrigues, pharmacist, PhD (Chemical, Biological and Agricultural Pluridisciplinary Research Center)
  • Alexandre Pontual, psychologist (PhD candidate, University of São Paulo / Ribeirão Preto)
  • Bruno Ramos Gomes, psychologist, MSc (PhD candidate, School of Medical Sciences, UNICAMP)
  • Lucas de Oliveira Maia, biologist, MSc (PhD candidate, School of Medical Sciences, UNICAMP)
  • Ana Carolina Simão de Oliveira, psychologist (MSc candidate, School of Medical Sciences, UNICAMP)
  • Dimitri Daldegan Bueno, psychologist (MSc candidate, Federal University of São Paulo)
  • Luís Felipe Siqueira Valêncio, biologist (MSc candidate, Medical School of São José do Rio Preto)

Workshop Syllabus

  • Introduction to the interdisciplinarity of ayahuasca – 60 min.
  • The psychopharmacology of ayahuasca – 90 min.  Ayahuasca plant constituents: Banisteriopsis caapi, Psychotria viridis and other possible admixtures – 90 min.
  • Ayahuasca and Neuroscience
  • The toxicology of ayahuasca intake – 90 min.
  • Historical and anthropological aspects of ayahuasca – 180 min.
  • The therapeutic potential of ayahuasca: depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses – 90 min.
  • Psychotherapeutic aspects of ayahuasca use – 90 min.
  • Ayahuasca and health: objective and subjective perspectives – 90 min.
  • The bioethics of ayahuasca use – 90 min.  Set and setting in ayahuasca studies – 90 min.
  • The psychometric assessment of ayahuasca effect – 90 min.
  • The therapeutic potential of ayahuasca: substance-related disorders – 90 min.
  • Agricultural management of B. caapi and Psychotria sp. – 90 min.
  • Ayahuasca alkaloid extraction – 90 min.
  • Pharmacological preparations of ayahuasca: original form, freeze-drying, other presentations – 90 min.
  • Assessing alkaloids in plant material and ayahuasca samples – 90 min.
  • Presentation of individual tasks – 90 min.