Ayahuasca is an Amazonian psychoactive plant medicine being explored for its potential therapeutic uses in Western contexts. Preliminary studies link ayahuasca use with improvements across a range of mental health indicators, but studies have not yet explored qualitative aspects of the post-treatment process known in the psychedelic literature as “integration”. This includes how participants make sense of their ayahuasca experiences and minimise harm/maximise benefits after ayahuasca use. A global online survey, conducted between 2017 and 2019, collected responses from 1630 ayahuasca drinkers (50.4% male, mean age = 43 years) to an open-ended question about their integration experiences after consuming ayahuasca. Inductive codebook thematic analysis was used to identify themes in participants’ integration experiences. Participants described integration experiences in three main ways. First, was an overall appraisal of the integration experience (e.g., as easy, challenging, or long-term/ongoing). Second, was describing beneficial tools which facilitated integration (e.g., connecting with a like-minded community and ongoing practice of yoga, meditation, journaling, etc.). Third, was describing integration challenges (e.g., feeling disconnected, going back to “old life” with new understandings, etc.). These findings suggest that integrating ayahuasca experiences can be challenging and take considerable time, though working through integration challenges may facilitate positive growth. Findings also challenge the role of individual psychotherapy as the primary integration tool in Western psychedelic therapy, suggesting that communal and somatic elements may also be useful. An expanded definition of psychedelic integration is proposed which includes working with integration challenges and adjusting to life changes.

Ayahuasca is a psychedelic plant brew originating from the Amazon Rainforest. It is formed from two basic components, the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, and a plant containing the potent psychedelic dimethyltryptamine (DMT), usually Psychotria viridis. Here we review the history of this brew and describe recent work on its pharmacology and phenomenological responses to, and clinical applications of ayahuasca. There has been a significant increase in interest surrounding ayahuasca since the turn of the millennium. Increasing numbers of tourists are travelling to the Amazon rainforest to drink the brew, with various media outlets, celebrities, and researchers describing benefits from its consumption. Ayahuasca is now present across the globe and retreat centres offering plant medicine experiences has become a thriving business. Anecdotal evidence varies significantly, ranging from evangelical accounts to horror stories involving physical and psychological harm. The effects of the brew on personality, mental health outcomes, and nature-relatedness are discussed in this review. Further, phenomenological analyses of the ayahuasca experience are explored. Ayahuasca is a promising psychedelic agent that warrants greater empirical attention regarding its basic neurochemical mechanisms of action and its therapeutic uses.