Ritualized Misunderstanding Between Uncertainty, Agreement, and Rupture

Losonczy, Anne-Marie; Cappo, Silvia Mesturini

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341191.003.0006

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Additionally, the cross-cultural validity of the here proposed measure of communitas should be tested within non-WEIRD populations, especially considering that the concept of communitas has been developed through the study of rituals in African tribal (i.e., non-WEIRD) communities ( Turner, 1969 ). It is likely that the experience of communitas would have different roles and effects in members of non-WEIRD cultures, where frameworks of psychedelic use can be strongly divergent from common Western narratives of individual psycho-spiritual healing or growth (for a discussion in the context of Peruvian ayahuasca use, see Losonczy and Cappo, 2014 ); including for example the use of ayahuasca to perform aggressive actions toward hostile shamans or individuals through means of sorcery or witchcraft ( Wilbert and Vidal, 2004 ; Fotiou, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychedelic Communitas: Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions Predicts Enduring Changes in Psychological Wellbeing and Social Connectedness

et al. 2021

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Background: Recent years have seen a resurgence of research on the potential of psychedelic substances to treat addictive and mood disorders. Historically and contemporarily, psychedelic studies have emphasized the importance of contextual elements ('set and setting') in modulating acute drug effects, and ultimately, influencing long-term outcomes. Nevertheless, current small-scale clinical and laboratory studies have tended to bypass a ubiquitous contextual feature of naturalistic psychedelic use: its social dimension. This study introduces and psychometrically validates an adapted Communitas Scale, assessing acute relational experiences of perceived togetherness and shared humanity, in order to investigate psychosocial mechanisms pertinent to psychedelic ceremonies and retreats.Methods: In this observational, web-based survey study, participants (N = 886) were measured across five successive time-points: 2 weeks before, hours before, and the day after a psychedelic ceremony; as well as the day after, and 4 weeks after leaving the ceremony location. Demographics, psychological traits and state variables were assessed pre-ceremony, in addition to changes in psychological wellbeing and social connectedness from before to after the retreat, as primary outcomes. Using correlational and multiple regression (path) analyses, predictive relationships between psychosocial 'set and setting' variables, communitas, and long-term outcomes were explored.Results: The adapted Communitas Scale demonstrated substantial internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92) and construct validity in comparison with validated measures of intra-subjective (visual, mystical, challenging experiences questionnaires) and inter-subjective (perceived emotional synchrony, identity fusion) experiences. Furthermore, communitas during ceremony was significantly correlated with increases in psychological wellbeing (r = 0.22), social connectedness (r = 0.25), and other salient mental health outcomes. Path analyses revealed that the effect of ceremony-communitas on long-term outcomes was fully mediated by communitas experienced in reference to the retreat overall, and that the extent of personal sharing or ‘self-disclosure’ contributed to this process. A positive relationship between participants and facilitators, and the perceived impact of emotional support, facilitated the emergence of communitas.Conclusion: Highlighting the importance of intersubjective experience, rapport, and emotional support for long-term outcomes of psychedelic use, this first quantitative examination of psychosocial factors in guided psychedelic settings is a significant step toward evidence-based benefit-maximization guidelines for collective psychedelic use.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychedelic Communitas: Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions Predicts Enduring Changes in Psychological Wellbeing and Social Connectedness

et al. 2021

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“…Losonczy and Mesturini Cappo (2014) take a metalinguistic approach to explain how verbal and ritual actions by locals and foreigners (in their terms, ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Occidental’) stage a performative misunderstanding (inspired by Marshall Sahlins’ ‘working misunderstanding’) in which the parties are able to give special meaning to the ritual event without fully understanding the other. In this way, ‘two different social and cultural logics appear as diverging interpretations of the same event that culminate in … its inscription as a relevant event in both collective cultural memories’ (112).…”

Section: Fashioning a Commensurate Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With this framework, they contrast the local Amazonian ayahuasquero focus on encounters with powerful forest spirits that may result in misfortune and illness, with the western perspective which ‘tends to refuse to interpret any feelings of unwellness as a result of the voluntary malevolence of others’ (119). The westerner is rather focused on their individual psychological history and any emotional blocks or traumas from their personal life experience, what Lévi-Strauss has referred to as an ‘individual myth’ in the therapeutic encounter 9 (Losonczy and Mesturini Cappo 2014; Marcus and Fotiou 2019). The ‘sorcery-based interpretation’ relies on the ritual specialist (i.e.…”

Section: Fashioning a Commensurate Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ‘sorcery-based interpretation’ relies on the ritual specialist (i.e. the curandero ) to mediate with the spirits and spirit world, while the psychology-based interpretation relies on the curandero as more of a guide while each individual ‘must lead his own combat against his own issues’ (Losonczy and Mesturini Cappo 2014, 120). The psy-practitioner is yet another guide in the latter context, reaffirming the psychology-oriented focus of the western perspective.…”

Section: Fashioning a Commensurate Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Everybody’s creating it along the way’: ethical tensions among globalized ayahuasca shamanisms and therapeutic integration practices

Marcus

2022

Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

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Ayahuasca has a variety of traditional uses, yet there is a growing global interest in its potential therapeutic benefits for mental health conditions. Novel approaches to psychotherapy are emerging to address the needs of ayahuasca users to prepare as well as to guide them in 'integrating' their powerful psychedelic experiences, yet there is little discussion on the ethical frameworks that may structure these therapeutic processes or the social and cultural assumptions that influence the assignment of ayahuasca as a medicine. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in San Martín and Loreto, Peru, I examine the varied social meanings and uses of ayahuasca in the Peruvian vegetalista tradition and the potential ethical tensions among curanderos, mental health practitioners, and ayahuasca retreat centres. Practitioners and ayahuasca centres are left with navigating globalized concepts of mental health and ethics while attempting to remain authentic to local ontologies of healing, care, and safety.

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“…This is why it is especially important to have an experienced healer, guide, or shaman to lead these sessions since they have a long tradition of using these tools to benefit their patients. However, as a disclaimer, these techniques and emplotment devices can also be used to harm patients, as is evident in the growing sexual abuse cases in ayahuasca shamanism (Peluso 2014).…”

Section: Susto (Scare)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Many Lives of a Shamanic Chondur: Using Cyperus articulates in Yagé Shamanism of Southern Colombia

Echeverri-Sanchez

2021

Journal of Ethnobiology

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This article explores the use of Cyperus articulates in Putumayo, Colombia. This oftenoverlooked medicinal plant, known here as chondur, is used as a shamanic tool to fight the multiplicity of spiritual agents that can cause illness in western Amazonia. It also has a central role in yagé/ ayahuasca ceremonies, placing it in a unique position for an analytical observation of the dynamics of health in the region. The article examines two different folk varieties of this potent plant, each with its unique use, purpose, and symbolism. The use of these plants in healing rituals and yagé ceremonies highlights the importance of tools, techniques, and devices to reinforce the therapeutic narratives.

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Ritualized Misunderstanding Between Uncertainty, Agreement, and Rupture

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Psychedelic Communitas: Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions Predicts Enduring Changes in Psychological Wellbeing and Social Connectedness

Psychedelic Communitas: Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions Predicts Enduring Changes in Psychological Wellbeing and Social Connectedness

‘Everybody’s creating it along the way’: ethical tensions among globalized ayahuasca shamanisms and therapeutic integration practices

The Many Lives of a Shamanic Chondur: Using Cyperus articulates in Yagé Shamanism of Southern Colombia

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