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The ayahuasca experience: from the Amazon to Orlando

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The ayahuasca experience: from the Amazon to Orlando

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Content THE AYAHUASCA EXPERIENCE:

FROM THE AMAZON TO ORLANDO

by

Jake Feder

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR
COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM)

DECEMBER 2020

Copyright 2020 Jake Feder
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract......................................................................................................................................iii

The Main Story.............................................................................................................................1

Endnotes and Bibliography........................................................................................................16

iii
Abstract
This thesis is presented to the faculty members of the University of Southern California’s
Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in order to partially fulfill the
requirements for completion of a Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism. The intent of this
work of journalism was to report, through a lens of first-person experience and a review of the
literature, the use of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic drug, as a potential treatment of varying
psychological ailments like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or in my case, Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I made the decision to describe my experience in context with
scientific research to properly elucidate an avenue of treatment that people turn toward when
dealing with psychological distress. The personal experience I share took place at the Soul Quest
Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth in Orlando, Florida.
I attended a three-day retreat at the church that was touted as a possible means of
treatment for various ailments through the use of ayahuasca. I also had the opportunity to review
the experiences of others who were in attendance for reasons different from my own. Articles in
popular publications and journals are occurring with greater frequency suggesting hallucinogens
may prove to be efficacious for the treatment of various disorders. It is not the purpose of this
thesis to suggest that the use of ayahuasca proves to be efficacious. Efficacy remains a discussion
among the scientific and medical communities utilizing evidence-based methodologies.
Given this context, my experience was such that I cannot definitively say whether or not
my OCD has improved. The use of the drug did certainly, in my case, elicit a psychedelic
response. But, there is still much research to be done in the field, and my personal experience
does not suggest in any way that ayahuasca is a drug of choice for the treatment of OCD or
PTSD.
1
The Main Story
Weeks before walking into Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth, questions
filled my mind.
What is ayahuasca, and what does it have to do with a church? I had heard about
ayahuasca through friends, but why had it caught my ear? Was it out of curiosity, or did it come
from a place of self-help? A search for information ensued.
Ayahuasca belongs to a class of drugs called hallucinogens. It can be said hallucinogens
produce mind-altering mystical experiences, otherworldly visions of paradise, and profoundly
altered states of consciousness. These hallucinogenic experiences are often associated with
religious ceremonies or shamanic rituals, but the fact remains hallucinogens are chemical
compounds that can be analyzed by science.
Hallucinogens, simply put, cause hallucinations–they induce changes in perception and
sensation
1
. And while they can do so without a loss of memory or loss of consciousness, they can
also distort a person’s ability to reason, communicate clearly, and connect with reality
2
. That is,
they can lead to dangerous and bizarre behavior. Humphrey Osmond coined the term psychedelic
in the 1950s and used the term to encapsulate this array of manifestations
3
.
Hallucinogens are often divided into two basic subtypes: classic hallucinogens (e.g.,
lysergic acid diethylamide [LSD], psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine [DMT], and 3,4-
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA]) and dissociative drugs (e.g.,
phenylcyclohexylpiperidine [PCP] and ketamine). In textbooks on the subject, the categories can
be several more
4
.
DMT, a classic hallucinogen, is structurally similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-
HT). It acts as an agonist to produce a response at a serotonin receptor site called 5-HT2A, just
2
like fellow classic hallucinogens LSD and psilocybin
5
. By acting on the same neural circuitry in
the brain that is utilized by 5-HT, classic hallucinogens are thought to act on everything from
mood, cognition, and perception to arousal and physiological processes connected to stress and
panic
6
.
DMT is found in the leaves of a shrub called Psychotria viridis. When the leaves of P.
viridis are brewed along with another component, the bark of a vine called Banisteriopis caapi,
the resulting “tea” is called ayahausca
7
.
DMT on its own is predominately vaporized and inhaled, and a fairly short effect is
expected
8
. Ayahuasca contains DMT as its active ingredient, but once brewed with the bark of
the B. caapi vine–the bark contains β-carboline alkaloids, a kind of monoamine oxidase (MAO)
inhibitor–the effects of the DMT are prolonged to span several hours. The β-carboline alkaloids
slow down the degradation of the DMT molecule by MAO. This prolongs the effect. The
indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin originally used the brew as a magical, religious
sacrament, though its use has spread to include both syncretic religious (defined as an amalgam
of religions) and religious-independent, more medicinal efforts
9
. I was intrigued, and I
researched further still.
In a 2006 United States Supreme Court case Gonzales v O Centro Espirita Beneficente
Uniao do Vegetal, the court sanctioned the use of ayahuasca in a unanimous decision. Under the
decision, ayahuasca can be used in spiritual and religious practices by specified groups
10
. Santo
Daime, a religion that utilizes ayahuasca, fought a similar legal battle in Oregon. Benefitting
from the precedence set by the 2006 case, the religious group won, allowing for the ceremonial
use of the drug in 2009. However, clinical trials still do not exist in the United States as the
3
active ingredient, DMT, is a Schedule I drug, with no approved clinical use and a high potential
for abuse
11
. This contradiction in the law lives on, creating a gray area for future research.
I began to correspond with Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth. The religious
organization operates under the protection of the 2006 Gonzales case, but I noted that the Drug
Enforcement Administration has yet to respond to the church’s request for religious exemption
12
.
Despite the dangers, I signed up for a retreat that they offered. The word retreat may inspire in
the mind an image of a camp or spa environment, but at this church in Orlando, Florida, a retreat
is much more. People travel to Soul Quest to ingest the psychedelic called ayahuasca. The retreat
would include three ayahuasca ceremonies over the course of three days.
The church sent me a guide through e-mail a week before the experience would take
place. And by experience, I mean the overall psychedelic experience of ingesting ayahuasca over
the course of three separate ceremonies. I had officially decided I would ingest the drug.
This guide would tell me how to prepare for the experience, what to expect (and what not
to expect), and what to bring.
The guide instructed that I eat a plant-based diet for a week before and after the retreat.
The plant-based diet allowed for things like fresh fruits, rice, and olive oil. I was instructed to
refrain from dairy, not to drink alcohol, not to eat red meat (especially pork), not to eat hot foods
like peppers, not to eat fermented foods like pickles, and to limit my consumption of sugars and
salt. I was also instructed to refrain from sexual activity, as this physical exchange would
inevitably deplete the body of important energies.
The guide included a list of medications to avoid: opiates, diuretics, sleeping pills, asthma
medications, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), antihypertensives, and
supplements like St. John’s Wort and turmeric were on the list.
4
I had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), but I had not been on medications for
some time. It is true that my OCD had distressed me. It is true that I was looking for a path to
relief that didn’t include taking pills. This is why ayahuasca had first caught my ear, I believe.
Motivation is key, and it was important that I realize why I was leaving for Soul Quest in a few
days.
The guide recommended I bring a water bottle, a flashlight, warm clothes, a pillow, a
towel, and a blanket.
I was ready. Or, at least, my bags were packed.
I fully accepted the risk of attending such a retreat (and I accept here the additional risk
of sharing my story). One flight later, I found myself in Orlando, Florida. The morning of the
retreat’s first day, I was picked up at a hotel near the airport by Carlos, a volunteer at Soul Quest.
He picked me up in his red minivan. The steering wheel was hugged by a rainbow covering of
stretchy fabric. It was very psychedelic. Inside, Carlos was playing music and speaking with
another retreat-goer, an African-American woman named Marsha. She was nervous about taking
ayahuasca. On the way to Soul Quest, Carlos mentioned that he had ingested ayahuasca a week
prior. He stated that he was in a state of bliss, and this did not seem to calm Marsha.
Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at Soul Quest. Carlos pulled into the driveway of the
church. The front of the church was actually a large, seemingly stretched-out one-story home.
Painted orange, it seemed a continuance of the psychedelic feel I first encountered in Carlos’s
minivan.
I went through the front door of the house to check into the retreat. I gave a Soul Quest
volunteer my name and driver’s license, and then I was taken to a back room for a medical
5
examination. It was an entry-level examination: my temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate
were all measured, and then I was asked a few questions concerning medical history.
After the examination, I had an hour to mull around the church grounds. Behind the
house, a woody, grass-laden area presented itself. The church had the feel of a compound, and it
seemed to stretch out into the surrounding woods.
I was informed by a volunteer that a group orientation would be starting, but before that,
the volunteer led me to my sleeping quarters. I was given a mattress on the floor of the
ceremonial tent where the ayahuasca ceremonies would be taking place. That is when Chris and
Verena Young, co-founders of the church, walked into the tent to lead the orientation. We were
informed of the schedule for the three days. Simply put, there would be three scheduled
ceremonies, two at night and one in the daytime.
By the time the first nighttime ceremony arrived at 8 PM, rain clouds were forming, but
the rain was not yet falling. A pyre of sage was ignited, and we cleansed our bodies in the smoke.
Inside the tent, the shaman was introduced. She was dressed in ceremonial garb. The brew was
brought to the center of the tent, and she blessed it with a bundle of leaves, waving them.
A music man was introduced. He would play songs that would help facilitate our
ayahuasca-induced journeys. The brew was dark, somewhere between the colors of midnight and
tart cherry, and it was sludge-like. A line to receive the sacrament formed; I was toward the front
of the line, and I could smell the ayahuasca. It smelled of tamarindo, a sweet Mexican candy
made mostly from the fruit of the tamarind tree. I received the brew, and with it, the blessings of
the shaman. As instructed, I sat down at the foot of my mattress, and I took the brew. It also
tasted of tamarindo, but not in a good way. Fruity, acidic notes stole the scene, making my
mouth seize with discomfort.
6
I did not feel much the first night. Retreat-goers were allowed only one dose for the first
ceremony. I did not vomit, and I did not go to the bathroom. (Although purging is considered by
some to be essential in the experience of ayahuasca, one study suggests closer to 50 percent of
participants will vomit.
13,14
)
I remember it was finally raining, and I fell asleep soon after.
When I woke up, the rain was torrential. Chris Young delivered the news that the daytime
ceremony would be canceled as a result, giving me more time to mull around and to contemplate
the upcoming nighttime ceremony. Even though it didn’t affect me very much the first night, the
brew left me in somewhat of a daze. I remember volunteers fortifying the ceremonial tent with
rain-proofing materials. I ate a light breakfast of cereal and a peanut butter sandwich, and then I
had the same sandwich for lunch. It was best to stay light for the ceremony, so I retired to my
mattress and listened to the rain again. It was a beautiful, large white noise people would pay
money for on the app store. My daze did not dissipate. I found myself going in and out, and
before I knew it, the second nighttime ceremony was upon me and the other retreat-goers. Plus
the volunteers, there were about 60 people in attendance. I noticed a fairly even split between
sexes, and nearly every race was represented. This time, we would be allowed to have more than
one dose of ayahuasca. I had three. As I am a large, rather healthy individual at 23 years old,
6’5”, and 225 pounds, I was told that three would be enough, and that, moreover, I should take
no more than three. After about thirty minutes, the trip ensued.
Before fully committing to my trip to Orlando, I searched for those who had experienced
ayahuasca. I was intrigued that combat veterans happened to be connected to ayahuasca, either
by way of having ingested the drug or by way of facilitating ayahuasca ceremonies for what they
viewed as other veterans in need.
7
Lance Supernaw and Daniel Murray are examples of both these categories of veteran.
Supernaw and Murray are the co-founders of Warrior Quest USA, a group that deals in
facilitating ayahuasca events for veterans in need
15
. Many veterans present with treatment-
resistant Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as they join the ranks of retreat-goers like the
ones I would meet at Soul Quest.
Supernaw is a master sergeant who served over 14 years as a United States Air Force
(USAF) Special Operations Pararescueman. In July of 2018, he found himself at a PTSD center
in Salt Lake City, Utah called the National Center for Veterans Studies. “I was there for two
weeks,” Supernaw said. “I had 24-hour treatment. I had three sessions with a psychologist a
day.”
Combat veterans can suffer from PTSD, defined by the Mayo Clinic

as “a mental health
condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it.
Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable
thoughts about the event”
16
.
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is where veterans may first turn
for psychological treatment. In the fiscal year 2018 alone, the number of veterans having
“received treatment in a VA mental health specialty program” was more than 1.7 million,
according to the VA’s online website
17
.
Critics of the VA will speak of a “combat cocktail,” a potentially toxic mixing of
prescription drugs–including but not limited to antidepressants, anxiolytics (anxiety-reducing),
and pain medication–meant to help in the treatment of lasting psychological trauma, PTSD being
a prime example
18,19,20
.
8
Some veterans do find relief in prescription medication, just as a sizable portion of the
general population does.
For the VA, forms of talk therapy are another element in treating PTSD, although not
always deemed successful by critics. A study conducted in 2015, by Maria M. Steenkamp, PhD
and a team from New York University Langone Medical Center, was published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association
21
. The authors examined randomized clinical trials of
psychotherapies for military-caused PTSD. The study covered a 35-year period of time and
found that two talk therapies called cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure
therapy–the most commonly used evidenced based therapies for PTSD–resulted in around two-
thirds of people still meeting the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis after treatment.
After going to the PTSD center, everything was “peachy,” according to Supernaw, until
the routines of home-life resurrected a destructive side few are able to integrate head-on. “I fell
right back down the wormhole.”
“I was taking Adderall, Ambien, Xanax, Teraza, Zoloft, opioids, cocaine, and alcohol
every single day to cut the pain.”
It was like this until a trusted friend phoned Supernaw. Supernaw’s friend had recently
started dating a volunteer at the Soul Quest church in Orlando, and he encouraged Supernaw to
come in.
“People were looking out for me. I showed up at Soul Quest at the end of July of 2018.”
“I was broken. I had no zest for life. Everything in my life was gray. I was gonna eat a
bullet.”
Daniel Murray was one of these people looking out for Supernaw. Murray had his own
demons, and they also led him to Soul Quest. After receiving a DUI and coming to terms with
9
his having PTSD, Murray showed up to the church in August of 2018. “You know, that first
retreat was the most important because it opened my eyes to everything. All of those emotions
that I had buried deep inside just started coming out,” he said.
Both Supernaw and Murray insist they have made tremendous strides and that ayahuasca
is to thank. “The VA needs to fund ayahuasca treatment for vets. It’s really the only thing that
helped me,” said Murray.
I wished to further elucidate the scientific perspective, so I pivoted toward another
veteran organization, Heroic Hearts Project (HHP). In addition to connecting veterans to
ayahuasca ceremonies, the organization is looking to add to a limited body of scientific
knowledge through studies on the drug. Founder Jesse Gould is a former member of the Army
Rangers, a special operations unit of the United States army. Gould is not suffering from PTSD
per se (he has suggested his mental ailment is more of a generalized anxiety and depression), but
he is acting as a spokesman for those severely affected by PTSD nonetheless. Gould is not a
medical expert, and this must be emphasized. His efforts are simply that of a veteran looking to
help what he views as brothers in need.
Gould says: “[A psychedelic trip is] not like a Yelp review. Like, ‘Oh, this is
great’...There still needs to be some sort of rigor.” His organization is collecting data and
conducting research on a small scale: “What we're trying to do is these smaller interesting
studies, not necessarily proving beyond a doubt one way or the other, but exploring different
avenues to see if there's interesting markers, interesting effects.” As an example, HHP has
received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from the University of Colorado, Boulder to
collect information on the gut microbiome in patients taking ayahuasca. Gould hopes this will
shine some light on the mind-gut connection as it relates to ingesting ayahuasca.
10
Gould doesn’t totally dismiss the subjectiveness of the psychedelic experience, however.
Having had his own psychedelic experience with ayahuasca, he explains his trip as such: “When
[the ayahuasca] first hit me, I had the stereotypical psychedelic experience: a lot of geometric
patterns, various colors, a lot of things moving…I would open my eyes to make it stop, but the
graphics would still be there…It was very physical; I had to purge, which is a typical part of
ayahuasca…You get that fear and worry: ‘Is something going wrong?’ It just kept pushing me
further and further, bringing all of the fear and anxiety [I had] into the experience.”
Gould was attending a series of three ayahuasca ceremonies to deal with his own anxiety
as a result of combat, and in experiencing the second of three ceremonies he describes it as being
“worse than the first…I considered writing a letter to my family…It pushed me so close to the
line that I didn’t know what would come of it.”
Gould concludes: “I knew I had to do [ayahuasca]. I was there to fix some of the issues
that I had, and going back [home] without pursuing every single avenue was not an option. I just
buckled in, like ‘I don’t know where this is going, but let’s take this ride’...It’s a very
individualistic experience…That was exactly what I needed.”
My psychedelic experience, or my trip, the second and final night of the retreat at Soul
Quest was different.
30 minutes after having ingested the ayahuasca, I looked around me. I noticed a general
stillness in the ceremonial tent, which was at odds with the sounds I began to key in on. There
was groaning, a symphony of groaning and other bodily sounds that seemed to go off without
permission from the person uttering the sound. And then I found myself tripping. I would hear
from other retreat-goers that finding oneself in the trip was not uncommon, as opposed to being
able to track exactly when the trip started.
11
I was aware of my body, and yet I was completely engrossed in the actions of my mind. I
watched as the famous parade scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off unfolded before my mind’s
eye. But instead of Ferris Bueller singing Twist and Shout by the Beatles, The Bride from Kill
Bill was on the float–naturally, she was looking to kill Bill. And there were other characters from
famous movies: Neo from The Matrix, Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction, and
more. I had written down some questions about my life that I needed answers to a week before
the retreat; with the help of the ayahuasca, I began to answer them. The ayahuasca allowed me to
witness my regular trains of thought from a remove.
I gained insight to questions about strained relationships, what direction my career would
take me, and why I was really at the retreat. Yes, I had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but I
was also curious to find out who else took ayahuasca. I thought about the veterans I had met at
Soul Quest, and a visceral sense of sympathy for their shared wartime trauma washed over me.
I also began to see, in my mind’s eye, what I can only describe as the limits of sanity. I
saw precisely how someone could fall over the cliff into insanity, as it were.
I wish to be precise. Ayahuasca does not come without its risks. I spoke with leading
experts to underline this reality. Their comments help explain the psychological impact of a drug
as powerful as ayahuasca.
John Briere, PhD and Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the
University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine warns of the downside of
administering a drug, especially one as powerful as ayahuasca, outside of a controlled, clinical
setting. In an ayahuasca church, “You might be working with someone who’s not very
experienced, who doesn’t know how to help you if you have other psychiatric problems. [If you
have] pre-existing panic attacks, and then you take ayahuasca and suddenly you’re panicked, is
12
that guy going to be able to help you? Very possibly not.” Psychotic episodes, though rare, have
been reported in association with the use of ayahuasca. A 2017 literature review by Santos,
Bouso, and Hallak found three case series and two case reports that all described psychotic
episodes connected with the ingestion of ayahuasca, in addition to three cases describing
psychotic episodes in connection with the active ingredient in ayahuasca, DMT
22
. Interestingly,
these reports included both subjects with and without family history of psychosis, which suggests
even those without a genetic predisposition to mental illness are susceptible to psychotic breaks
under the influence of ayahuasca.
Briere questions the calculation of dosage and purity of the drug in the church setting,
suggesting he’d rather opt for the clinical setting: “I’d be much more happy if my mother or my
brother were going to undergo this and they did it in a [clinical] context with someone who knew
what the drugs were, who knew how to handle negative effects of the drugs, and had access to a
drug that was what the drug was supposed to be... I would want to make sure that whatever
they’re engaged in is safe, and that, of course, is very, very complex.”
Briere ends by stating simply, “I would never recommend to anyone that they try
anything that hasn't been shown to be effective in clinical research.”
The data supporting the administration of ayahuasca in the clinic is insufficient
23
. Most
studies involving psychedelics in general suffer from small sample populations, inconsistent
metrics, and altogether weak study design
24
.
What’s more, these reflections from Dr. Briere are quite possibly life-saving.
A 2016 paper by Frecska, Bokor, and Winkelman cites one death due to ayahuasca
ingestion
25
. Authors are quick to note that extra ingredients like datura, a poisonous plant, or
tobacco may in fact be to blame.
13
There was even a death at the Soul Quest church in April of 2018. The death was
dismissed by the Orange County, Florida Sheriff's Department as an accident
26
. This finding
certainly factored into my decision-making process, but I still decided to attend a retreat at Soul
Quest. (Reader, please beware.)
Jeffrey Sugar, MD and Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychiatry at the University of
Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine warns that with new psychological treatments
like ayahuasca, “People are quick to jump on the bandwagon...to go for the shiny new bobble.”
According to Sugar, people should be dubious of so-called administrators of ayahuasca: “Some
of these people, their main credential is they have had a lot of these experiences
themselves...That’s not all you need to move someone out of a psychological or psychiatric
state...Anyone can hang out of their shingle and say [that].”
Sugar stresses the importance of the clinical setting, of coming under the care of
clinicians with significant therapeutic credentials: “It would be best if [ayahuasca] was done in
the context of someone who’s trained in other things besides ayahuasca...So if you want to see
someone who’s trained best, I think it would be a trained psychologist or psychiatrist.”
As ayahuasca administration in the clinical setting is far from reality in the United States,
Sugar’s warning can, for now, be seen as a call for genuine pause when dealing with ayahuasca
churches.
The American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that medical use of psychedelics should
include carefully calculating the appropriate dosage, thoroughly screening patients, effectively
preparing patients for psychedelic-augmented psychotherapy sessions in line with a strongly
evidence-based regimen, and following up with patients appropriately
27
. This grade of treatment
14
protocol available to the clinician may stand in stark contrast to the accommodations of the
church setting.
On this note, the reader may wonder how I am doing, or how, for that matter, my
psychedelic trip the second night even ended.
I did not go over that cliff into insanity. I feel as though I was shown the limits of the
mind, and then I was allowed to pull myself back of my own volition. Of course, it was an easy
decision, but the idea that I was shown a choice fundamentally underlined the reality that
hallucinogens can cause significant damage to the psyche.
I did not vomit. I did go to the bathroom, but it wasn’t an emergency by any means (in
other words, I do not think it was brought on by the drug in any way). My trip ended rather
softly. I remember going to the kitchen at midnight for a peanut butter sandwich, and then I fell
asleep to the rain, which seemed to go on and on.
The third day consisted of a celebratory lunch–warm vegan soup, basmati rice, and
garden salad–and a wrap-up session led by Chris and Verena Young.
In smaller sessions throughout the retreat, we had been taught to integrate our
psychedelic experiences into our daily lives. At this larger wrap-up session, Chris and Verena
insisted that we continue to do the self-work necessary to understand the sights and sounds of the
ayahuasca experience.
I do not know if my OCD has improved. I feel as though I am more aware of my internal
world of mind and body, but that may very well be placebo.
The sun came out by the time I took an Uber back to the airport. My flight would be
leaving at 7 PM. I ate Wendy’s at the gate; it was nothing like ayahuasca. I thought about
Marsha, who I had first met in Carlos’s minivan. To this day, I hope she’s doing alright.
15
More than anything, I am certainly more aware of the traumas of wartime, and of the
need for consistent research efforts to develop strong, evidence-based therapies for our veterans
in need. My “trauma” will never be in the same ballpark. For better or for worse, Lance
Supernaw and company will continue to go to Soul Quest. Let us elucidate the dangers and the
possible benefits of the ayahuasca experience, for their sake.

16
Endnotes

1 Rafael G. Dos Santos, José Carlos Bouso, and Jaime E. C. Hallak, “Ayahuasca,
Dimethyltryptamine, and Psychosis: a Systematic Review of Human Studies,” Therapeutic
Advances in Psychopharmacology 7, no. 4 (2017): 141–57.

2 Nora D. Volkow, Rep, Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs. National Institute on Drug
Abuse, February 2015.

3 Claire D. Advokat, Joseph E. Comaty, and Robert M. Julien, Julien's Primer of Drug Action: a
Comprehensive Guide to the Actions, Uses, and Side Effects of Psychoactive Drugs, New York:
Worth Publishers, 2014. Humprey Osmond was an English psychiatrist who eventually became
both the head of the Bureau of Research in Neurology and Psychiatry at the New Jersey
Psychiatric Institute at Princeton and a professor of psychology at the University of Alabama. He
was associated with Aldous Huxley, a respected English writer and philosopher, who
popularized the phrase “turned on” to describe the hallucinogenic experience.

4 Claire D. Advokat, Joseph E. Comaty, and Robert M. Julien, Julien's Primer of Drug Action: a
Comprehensive Guide to the Actions, Uses, and Side Effects of Psychoactive Drugs, New York:
Worth Publishers, 2014, Page 238.

5 Albert Garcia Romeu, Brennan Kersgaard, and Peter H. Addy, Clinical Applications of
Hallucinogens: A Review, 0AD, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001686/.
6 Nora D. Volkow, Rep, Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs. National Institute on Drug
Abuse, February 2015.

7 Dennis J. McKenna, C. J. Callaway, and Charles S. Grob, “The Scientific Investigation of
Ayahuasca: A Review of Past and Current Research,” The Heffter Review of Psychedelic
Research 1 (1998): 65–76.

8 Claire D. Advokat, Joseph E. Comaty, and Robert M. Julien, Julien's Primer of Drug Action: a
Comprehensive Guide to the Actions, Uses, and Side Effects of Psychoactive Drugs, New York:
Worth Publishers, 2014, Page 255.

9 Paulo Cesar Ribeiro Barbosa et al., “Assessment of Alcohol and Tobacco Use Disorders
Among Religious Users of Ayahuasca,” Frontiers in Psychiatry 9 (2018),
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00136.
10 Jonathan Hamill et al., “Ayahuasca: Psychological and Physiologic Effects, Pharmacology
and Potential Uses in Addiction and Mental Illness,” Current Neuropharmacology 17, no. 2
(2019): 108–28, https://doi.org/10.2174/1570159x16666180125095902.
11 Collin M. Reiff et al., “Psychedelics and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: Clinical
Implications,” American Journal of Psychiatry, (2020): 1–20.
17
12 “Spiritual Retreat Center In Orlando.” Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church Of Mother Earth, June
2, 2020. https://www.ayahuascachurches.org/.
13 Evgenia Fotiou and Alex K. Gearin, “Purging and the Body in the Therapeutic Use of
Ayahuasca,” Social Science & Medicine 239 (2019): 112532.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112532.
14 Matthew J. Begola and Jason E. Schillerstrom, “Hallucinogens and Their Therapeutic Use; A
Literature Review” Wolters, Kluwer Health, Inch, J of Psychiatric Practice, Vo 25, No 5, Sept
2019.
15 “Warrior Quest USA Florida Veterans Support Group Helping Vets PTSD.” Warrior Quest
USA. Accessed July 15, 2020. https://www.warriorquestusa.com/.
16 “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical
Education and Research, July 6, 2018. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-
traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967.
17 “VA Research on Mental Health.” VA US Department of Veterans Affairs. Accessed July 15,
2020. https://www.research.va.gov/topics/mental_health.cfm.
18 James Dao, Benedict Carey, and Dan Frosch, “For Some Troops, Powerful Drug Cocktails
Have Deadly Results,” February 13, 2011,
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13drugs.html.

19 Martha Rosenberg, “Are Veterans Being Given Deadly Cocktails to Treat PTSD?,”
Alternet.org (Alternet.org, September 21, 2020),
https://www.alternet.org/2010/03/are_veterans_being_given_deadly_cocktails_to_treat_ptsd/.

20 Phil Briggs, “Combat Cocktail: Are PTS Meds Doing More Harm than Good?,” Connecting
Vets, March 30, 2018, https://connectingvets.radio.com/articles/combat-cocktail-are-pts-meds-
doing-more-harm-good.

21 Maria M. Steenkamp et al., “Psychotherapy for Military-Related PTSD,” JAMA 314, no. 5
(2015): 489, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.8370.
22 Rafael G. Dos Santos, José Carlos Bouso, and Jaime E. C. Hallak, “Ayahuasca,
Dimethyltryptamine, and Psychosis: a Systematic Review of Human Studies,” Therapeutic
Advances in Psychopharmacology 7, no. 4 (2017): 141–57.

23 Collin M. Reiff et al., “Psychedelics and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: Clinical
Implications,” American Journal of Psychiatry, (2020): 1–20.
24 Matthew J. Begola and Jason E. Schillerstrom, “Hallucinogens and Their Therapeutic Use; A
Literature Review” Wolters, Kluwer Health, Inch, J of Psychiatric Practice, Vo 25, No 5, Sept
2019.
18
25 Ede Frecska, Petra Bokor, and Michael Winkelman, “The Therapeutic Potentials of
Ayahuasca: Possible Effects against Various Diseases of Civilization,” Frontiers in
Pharmacology 7 (2016), https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2016.00035.
26 Karla Ray, “No Charges after Death Investigation at Ayahuasca Church.” WFTV, October
14, 2018. https://www.wftv.com/news/9-investigates/no-charges-after-death-investigation-at-
ayahuasca-church/852255976/.
27 Collin M. Reiff et al., “Psychedelics and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: Clinical
Implications,” American Journal of Psychiatry, (2020): 1–20.

19
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract This thesis is presented to the faculty members of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in order to partially fulfill the requirements for completion of a Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism. The intent of this work of journalism was to report, through a lens of first-person experience and a review of the literature, the use of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic drug, as a potential treatment of varying psychological ailments like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or in my case, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I made the decision to describe my experience in context with scientific research to properly elucidate an avenue of treatment that people turn toward when dealing with psychological distress. The personal experience I share took place at the Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth in Orlando, Florida. ❧ I attended a three-day retreat at the church that was touted as a possible means of treatment for various ailments through the use of ayahuasca. I also had the opportunity to review the experiences of others who were in attendance for reasons different from my own. Articles in popular publications and journals are occurring with greater frequency suggesting hallucinogens may prove to be efficacious for the treatment of various disorders. It is not the purpose of this thesis to suggest that the use of ayahuasca proves to be efficacious. Efficacy remains a discussion among the scientific and medical communities utilizing evidence-based methodologies. ❧ Given this context, my experience was such that I cannot definitively say whether or not my OCD has improved. The use of the drug did certainly, in my case, elicit a psychedelic response. But, there is still much research to be done in the field, and my personal experience does not suggest in any way that ayahuasca is a drug of choice for the treatment of OCD or PTSD.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Feder, Jacob (Jake) (author)

Core Title The ayahuasca experience: from the Amazon to Orlando

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism

Publication Date 10/16/2020

Defense Date 10/16/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag ayahuasca,hallucinogen,Heroic Hearts,Jesse Gould,OAI-PMH Harvest,post traumatic stress disorder,psychedelic,psychedelics,PTSD,Soul Quest,veterans,Veterans Affairs,Warrior Quest USA

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Kotler, Jonathan (committee chair)

Creator Email jfeder@usc.edu,jfeder16171@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-382263

Unique identifier UC11666372

Identifier etd-FederJacob-9047.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-382263 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-FederJacob-9047.pdf

Dmrecord 382263

Document Type Thesis

Rights Feder, Jacob (Jake)

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA