(Discover) – An earlier survey of 10,836 ayahuasca ceremony participants found that over half reported adverse mental states after ayahuasca use. Many experienced visual distortions, hallucinations, “feeling down, depressed, or hopeless,” “feeling disconnected or alone,” and “feeling energetically attacked,” according to the earlier study.

The new study dove deeper into a subset of the same participant pool — 5,400 who had the most complete data — to determine what factors most likely lead to either adverse effects or a positive experience. Among those users, 14.2 percent reported a previous anxiety disorder and 19.7 experienced a prior depressive disorder. (Read More)