Discuss the reasons why people use Ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca is one of the most powerful psychedelic drugs widely used in South America for spiritual purposes. In 2009, Peru's government recognized Ayahuasca's status, stating that it was “one of the basic pillars of the identity of the Amazon people's”. However, not only Amazon people use it. For example, it became very common through western society interests, which every year counts more and more travellers towards South America willing to experience a deeper trip into their subconscious. This essay will discuss the reason why people like to live this experience.
Its composition, obtained by mixing leaves and vines of 2 different plants, contains a neurotransmitter called DMT (dimethyltryptamine) similar to serotonin, which gives people the sense of happiness. DMT is also contained in the human brain and is produced during the REM phase of dreams. This is one of the main reasons why Ayahuasca became so popular in western society. DMT induces a trance state – as in sleep phase – in which the past emotions of the person come up and the traumatic experiences surface in a way to face them, leaving a feeling of “peace of mind” obtained by solving these fears. Indeed, most of the people who travel to Peru want to confront themselves with the deepest part of their subconscious or to seek a miracle cure for their addictions, depression and family problems.
Another reason is that many other people are fascinated by Ayahuasca spiritual and medical purposes. Indeed, an experienced person usually called “the shaman” is leading the whole ritual preparing the mixture to drink and guiding the person through the entire process, giving medical help if needed. Besides the “guide” role, shamans also use Ayahuasca to fall in trance, which allows them to understand the spiritual illness of the patient. It induces the person who drinks it in a psychedelic state of mind that enables him or her to look closely to problems. For these reasons, many scientists confirmed Ayahuasca could be used to cure depression or other behavioural disorders. By studying its mixture of leaves and vines they have also found out that its natural composition doesn't give any addiction.
In conclusion, people use Ayahuasca for many reasons. For some people, it represents a miracle medicine, and for others, it's more spiritually connected to them. With its good medical purposes, it would probably be used in the future for other illness researchers to reduce the issues caused by them.