An exploratory clinical trial from Spain has suggested that ayahuasca, when combined with meaning reconstruction therapy, may ease the severe bereavement experienced after the loss of a close relative. Led by psychiatrist Oscar Soto-Angona at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, the study enrolled 84 adults who had lost a first-degree relative within the previous year and compared three conditions: nine weekly online sessions of the therapy alone; a no-treatment control; and the same nine-week course augmented by two weekend ayahuasca retreats.
The research comes against a backdrop of the distress commonly felt after bereavement, with the first year described as a particularly vulnerable period. Prolonged grief disorder can develop, characterised by persistent yearning and preoccupation with the deceased, and standard psychological interventions and antidepressants have not reliably prevented such outcomes when administered soon after loss.
Meaning reconstruction therapy is based on the notion that a core challenge of mourning is reintegrating the loss into a person’s life narrative. The therapy unfolds in three phases: processing traumatic memories related to the death; redefining the ongoing attachment to the deceased; and rebuilding the bereaved person’s sense of identity as a survivor.
Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian brew formed from Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, containing DMT which stimulates serotonin receptors in the brain. The vine carries compounds that help safeguard the DMT from breakdown in the digestive system, allowing its central effects to be felt. Observational studies and anecdotal reports have pointed to the brew’s potential to aid emotional processing, and serotonergic psychedelics are thought to temporarily enhance neuroplasticity, psychological flexibility and creative thinking.
In the trial, 84 adults who had lost a first-degree relative within the prior 12 months were allocated to three groups. One received nine weekly online sessions of meaning reconstruction therapy; a second group acted as a no-treatment control; the third group received the same nine-week course plus two weekend ayahuasca retreats, with participants consuming a medium dose of the brew under medical supervision and engaging in online integration meetings afterward.
To gauge progress, participants completed standard questionnaires measuring normal grief severity, prolonged grief disorder symptoms, post-traumatic growth and overall quality of life. Assessments were administered before the interventions began, immediately after the nine-week period and at a three-month follow-up.
The researchers found that all three groups experienced some reduction in grief severity by the end of the study, a pattern common in bereavement research. However, the group receiving ayahuasca-assisted therapy showed the largest improvements across nearly all measures, with greater reductions in both normal grief severity and prolonged grief symptoms, alongside higher post-traumatic growth and better scores in psychological health and social relationships than the other groups.
These improvements appeared stable in the short term. When checked in three months after the interventions ended, the ayahuasca group maintained their gains.
The psychedelic-assisted treatment was generally well tolerated. No participant required psychiatric medication or experienced serious adverse events following dosing. Some reported mild, transient side effects such as nausea, vomiting or headaches, and a few participants in the experimental group chose to skip the second dose because they did not feel psychologically prepared for it.
Yet the study carries notable limitations. Because of COVID-19-related constraints during the early phases, randomisation could not be implemented and participants were allocated sequentially. The open-label design means participants knew which treatment they were receiving, raising the possibility of expectancy bias. Additionally, nearly three-quarters of participants had prior psychedelic use, suggesting preconceptions about the treatment. The study did not include a group that received ayahuasca without psychotherapy, making it impossible to separate pharmacological effects from the therapeutic environment.
Future research will require larger, randomised and double-blind trials to confirm these early observations and to elucidate how altered states of consciousness interact with meaning-reconstruction therapy after a devastating loss.
The study, “Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy as an early resource for bereavement: a non-randomized clinical trial,” was authored by Oscar Soto-Angona, Oscar Andión, Pablo Sabucedo, Robert A. Neimeyer, Josep Maria Haro, Julia Javkin, Magí Farré, and Débora González.
