Ayahuasca is a plant medicine traditionally used by Indigenous groups in the Amazon.
Researchers are now exploring its healing potential for mental illnesses. This qualitative study
evaluated the perspective of fifteen ceremonial leaders’ using content analysis on the healing
potential of ayahuasca drinking among individuals with eating disorders. Leaders’ theories of
eating disorders included the belief that eating disorders: are reflective of a deeper issue,
including unprocessed trauma; have an adaptive function; affect health on multiple levels; are
similar to addiction. Leaders’ theories on the healing mechanisms of ayahuasca included that
ceremonial experiences: support participants to process and integrate underlying causes of the
illness; facilitate physical, spiritual, mental and emotional healing; enhance and reorganize
relationships with symptoms, self, community and creation; and support healing through a
general shamanic approach. From their perspective, ayahuasca offers a potentially new and novel
treatment option in the healing of eating disorders.
