Authors
Abstract
Objective. This article aims to give an overview on the role of spirituality, faith and mystical experiences in the treatment of Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) by presenting the case of the therapeutic community Takiwasi, where psychoactive plants are used, and by considering other Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies that are derived from or have connection with religious or spiritual practices. Methodology. The research has been based on the review of scientific and grey literature and on an interview performed with the president and founder of Takiwasi. Results and discussion. Synergism between Christian and Amazonian spirituality appears relevant within the Takiwasi protocol. The use of CAM including Mindfulness, Holotropic Breathwork and Yoga emerge from the literature. Conclusions. Clinical experience show that spirituality is a key factor to be taken into account when considering addiction treatment and several CAM practices with spiritual connotations show promising potential for the treatment of SUDs.
Keywords:
References
Aletraris, L., Paino, M., Edmond,MB., Roman, PM. and Bride, BE. (2014). The Use of Art and Music Therapy in Substance Abuse Treatment Programs. J Addict Nurs. 25 (4),190- 196. https://doi.org/10.1097/JAN.0000000000000048
Almendro, M. and López. E. (2016). Beyond Frontiers: Meditative Practice, Clinical Practice and Scientific Research. J Psychol Psychother 6 (5), 281. https://doi.org/10.4172/2161-0487.1000281
Amar, Y. (2011). L’obligation de conscience. Paris: Editions du Relié, 170 p.
Amar, Y. (2012). Les nouveaux rites de passage, Psychotropes : l’initiation redevenue nécessaire. Retrieved from: https://www.takiwasi.com/docs/arti_fra/nouveaux-ritespassage.pdf
Apffel-Marglin, F. (2007). Itinerary and testimony of Dr. Jacques Mabit, Physician and Shaman. InterCulture 152, 25-45.
Barbira-Scazzocchio, F. (1979). Etnicidad y Fronteras en los Quechuas de la Selva Peruana, University of Cambridge, Centre of Latin American Studies, 468p.
Ben-Arye, E., Schiff, E., Vintal,H., Agour, O., Preis, L. and Steiner, M. (2012). Integrating complementary medicine and supportive care: patients’ perspectives toward complementary medicine and spirituality. J Altern Complement Med. 9,824-31. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2011.0327.
Besson J. (2008). Quelle relation entre spiritualité et addiction? Dépendances 34,3-4.
Beyer, S.V. (2009). Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 544 p.
Berlowitz, I., Ghasarian, C., Walt, H., Mendive, F., Alvarado, V. and Martin-Soelch, C. (2018). Conceptions and practices of an integrative treatment for substance use disorders involving Amazonian medicine: traditional healers’ perspectives. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 40 (2), 200-209. https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2016-2117
Black, S. (2014). Icaros: the healing songs of Amazonian curanderismo and their relationship to Jungian psychology (master thesis). Sonoma State University, California.
Bonelli, R. and Koenig, H. (2013). Mental disorders, religion and spirituality 1990 to 2010: A systematic evidence-based review. Journal of Religion and Health 52 (2),657-73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-013-9691-4.
Bowen, S., Chawla, N. and Marlatt, GA. (2010). Mindfulness-based relapse prevention for addictive behaviors : a Clinician’s Guide. New York: The Guilford Press.
Bowen, S., Witkiewitz, K., Clifasefi, SL., Grow,J., Chawla, N., Hsu, SH… Larimer, ME. (2014). Relative efficacy of mindfulness-based relapse prevention, standard relapse prevention, and treatment as usual for substance use disorders: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry 71 (5), 547-56. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.4546
Brewerton, TD., Eyerman, JE., Cappetta , P., and Mithoefer, MC. (2011). Long-term abstinence following holotropic breathwork as adjunctive treatment of substance use disorders and related psychiatric comorbidity. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 10 (3),453-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-011-9352-3
Brisson, P. (2005). Avant, pendant et après l’expérience psychotrope : plaidoyer pour une approche spirituelle de la question drogue. In Actes du XXXIIe Colloque. De la prévention à la réadaptation : traditions, impacts, approches. Longueuil: Association des intervenants en toxicomanie du Québec, pp 195-206.
Bustos, S. (2008). The healing power of the icaros: a phenomenological study of ayahuasca experiences (doctoral thesis). Institute of Integral Studies, California. Retrieved from: https://takiwasi.com/docs/publicaciones/pa013.pdf
Callicott, C. (2013). Interspecies communication in the Western Amazon: Music as a form of conversation between plants and people. European Journal of Ecopsychology 4,32-43.
Cavicchioli, M., Movalli, M., and Maffei, C. (2018). The Clinical Efficacy of MindfulnessBased Treatments for Alcohol and Drugs Use Disorders: A Meta-Analytic Review of Randomized and Nonrandomized Controlled Trials. European Addiction Research, 24(3), 137–162. https://doi.org/10.1159/000490762
Cevasco, A. M., Kennedy, R., and Generally, N. R. (2005). Comparison of movement-tomusic, rhythm activities, and competitive games on depression, stress, anxiety, and anger of females in substance abuse rehabilitation. Journal of music therapy, 42(1), 64-80. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/42.1.64
Colbeaux, C. (2008). Addiction et Religion, Actes des neuvièmes rencontres de l’U.S.I.D. l’Unité de Soins et d’Information sur les Drogues du Centre Hospitalier de Douai, URFD Ed.
Cook, C. (2004). Addiction and spirituality. Addiction 99 (5), 539-51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2004.00715.x
Cui, CL, Wu, L.Z. and Luo, F. (2008). Acupuncture for the treatment of drug addiction. Neurochem. Res. 33 (10), 2013-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9784-8
Demange, F. (2002). Amazonian Vegetalismo: a study of the healing power of chants in Tarapoto, Peru. University of East London.
Denys, A. (2013). Des plantes médicinales au service d’une action thérapeutique dans la prise en charge de l’addiction. Ethnopharmacologia, 50,69-78.
Devi, N.J., Singh,T.B., and Subramanya, P. (2014). Effect of yoga on depression and quality of life in drug abusers. Int. J. Ayurveda Pharma Res. 2(2), 61-65.
Dhar, N., Chaturvedi, S. K., and Nandan, D. (2011). Spiritual health scale 2011: Defining and measuring 4th dimension of health. Indian journal of community medicine: official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine, 36(4), 275. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.91329
Dhawan, A., Chopra, A., Jain, R. and Yadav, D. (2015). Effectiveness of yogic breathing intervention on quality of life of opioid dependent users. International journal of yoga, 8(2), 144-147. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.154075
D’souza, R. and George, K. (2006). Spirituality, Religion and Psychiatry: Its Application to Clinical Practice. Australasian Psychiatry, 14(4), 408–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/j.1440-1665.2006.02314.x
Ellison, C. G., Bradshaw, M. and Roberts, C. A. (2012). Spiritual and religious identities predict the use of complementary and alternative medicine among US adults. Preventive medicine, 54(1), 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.08.029
Foley, E. (2015). Music and Spirituality - Introduction. Religions 6: 638–641. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6020638
Forcehimes, A., and Tonigan,J. (2009). Spirituality and Substance Use Disorders. In Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry, edited by Huguelet & Koenig, 114-27. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511576843.009
Garland, E.L. and Howard, M.O. (2018). Mindfulness-based treatment of addiction: current state of the field and envisioning the next wave of research. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 13 (1):14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13722-018-0115-3
Giove, R. (2002). La liana de los muertos al rescate de la vida, medicina tradicional amazónica en el tratamiento de las toxicomanías. Tarapoto, Perú: Takiwasi.
Gordon, R. (1983). El hongo maravilloso: teonanacátl. Micolatría en mesoamérica. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Grant, S., Kandrack, R., Motala, A., Shanman, R., Booth, M., Miles, J., ... and Hempel, S. (2016). Acupuncture for substance use disorders: a systematic review and metaanalysis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 163, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.02.034
Grof, S., and Grof, C. (1990). The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth Through Transformational Crisis. Los Angeles: J. Tarcher. Distributed by St. Martin’s Press, New York.
Grof, S., and Grof, C. (2010). Holotropic Breathwork: A new approach to self-exploration and therapy. State University of New York: Excelsior Editions.
Grof, S. (2010). Healing potential of spiritual experiences: Observations from modern consciousness research. The healing power of spirituality: How faith helps humans thrive, 3, 126-146.
Hofmann, A. (1980). LSD - My Problem Child. McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Hofmann, A., Gordon, R., Ruck C. (2013). El camino a Eleusis, Una solución al enigma de los misterios. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México.
Hohmann, L., Bradt, J., Stegemann, T., and Koelsch, S. (2017). Effects of music therapy and music-based interventions in the treatment of substance use disorders: A systematic review. PloS one, 12(11), e0187363. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0187363
Horák, M. (2013). The House of Song. Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts by the Traditional Indigenous Medicine of the Peruvian Amazon. Mendel University, Brno.
Lardinois, O., and Vermander, B. (2006). Shamanism and Christianity: Religious Encounter among Indigenous Peoples of East Asia. Taipei Ricci Institute, Taiwan.
Lu, L., Liu, Y., Zhu, W., Shi, J., Liu, Y., Ling, W., & Kosten, T. R. (2009). Traditional medicine in the treatment of drug addiction. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 35(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990802455469
Lua, P.L., and Talib, N.S. (2012). The effectiveness of auricular acupuncture for drug addiction: a review of research evidence from clinical trials. ASEAN J.Psychiatry 13:55-68.
Luna, L.E. (1984). The concept of plants as teachers among four mestizo shamans of Iquitos, northeastern Peru. J Ethnopharmacol. 11 (2):135-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(84)90036-9
Luna, L.E. (1986). Vegetalismo: shamanism among the mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon, in Department of Comparative Religion. University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden, 202 p.
Mabit J. (1994). Contra-iniciación toxicománica versus iniciación shamánica, II Congreso Internacional para el Estudio de los Estados Modificados de Consciencia, Lérida, España.
Mabit, J. (1999). Ir y volver: El ritual como puerta entre los mundos ejemplos en el shamanismo amazónico. Amazonia peruana, 13(26), 143-155.
Mabit J. (2016). Le sorcier, le fou et la grâce: les archétypes sont-ils des esprits désacralisés ?Réflexion à partir du chamanisme amazonien. In Dangers et nécessité de l’individuation, IXe Colloque de Bruxelles, Belgique: Esperluète Ed. L’Arbre Soleil.
Margolin, A., Avants, S. K., and Arnold, R. (2005). Acupuncture and Spirituality-Focused Group Therapy for the Treatment of HIV-Positive Drug Users: A Preliminary Study. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 37(4), 385–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2005.10399811
Mays, K. L., Clark, D. L., & Gordon, A. J. (2008). Treating addiction with tunes: A systematic review of music therapy for the treatment of patients with addictions. Substance Abuse, 29(4), 51-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897070802418485
Metcalf, B.A. (1995). Examining the Effects of Holotropic Breathwork in the Recovery from Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. Center for Transpersonal Studies & Development.
Moreno, J.J. (1995). Ethnomusic therapy: an interdisciplinary approach to music and healing. The Arts in Psychotherapy 22 (4):329-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/0197-4556(95)00039-8
Ott, J., and Bigwood, J. (1978). Teonanácatl: Hallucinogenic mushrooms of North America : extracts from the second international conference on Hallucinogenic Mushrooms. Seattle: Madrona Publishers.
Phan, C. (2016). Music as Medicine: A Literature Review and Project Proposal for “Ethnomusic Therapy” and Medical Ethnomusicology. University of California.
Politi, M. (2018). Healing and Knowledge with Amazonian Shamanic Diet. Retrieved from: https://chacruna.net/healing-knowledge-amazonian-shamanic-diet/.
Politi, M., Friso, F. and Mabit, J. (2018). Plant based assisted therapy for the treatment of substance use disorders - part 1. The case of Takiwasi Center and other similar experiences. Revista Cultura y Droga 23 (26):99-126. https://doi.org/10.17151/culdr.2018.23.26.7.
Posadzki, P., Choi, J, Lee, M.S. and Ernst, E. (2014). Yoga for addictions: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials. Focus Altern. Complement. Ther. 19:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/fct.12080
Reagan, J. (2011). Hacia la Tierra Sin Mal: La Religión del Pueblo en la Amazonía (tercera edición, corregida y aumentada). Lima: CAAP- CETA
Reyna, V., Carbajal F., M., Carbajal, J. (2010). Estudio Etnomedicinal de las Mesas con San Pedro II. Mesas de Don Marcos Carbajal F. Año 2009. Revista Cultura y Droga, 15(17):29-46.
Robinson, S., and Adinoff, B. (2016). The Classification of Substance Use Disorders: Historical, Contextual, and Conceptual Considerations. Behavioral Sciences, 6(3), 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs6030018
Rosenzweig, M. (1998). Les drogues dans l’histoire, entre remède et poison. Bruxelles: De Boeck Université.
Ruck, C., Bigwood, J, Staples, D, Ott J, and Gordon, R. (1979). Entheogens. Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, 11,1-2, 145-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1979.10472098
Sanz-Biset, J., and Cañigueral, S. (2011). Plant use in the medicinal practices known as “strict diets” in Chazuta valley (Peruvian Amazon). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 137,271- 88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2011.05.021
Sarkar, S., and Varshney, M. (2017). Yoga and substance use disorders: A narrative review.Asian J Psychiatr. 25,191-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2016.10.021
Schultes, R. E., and Hofmann, A. (1979). Plants of the gods: Origins of hallucinogenic use. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Soto-Espinosa, J., and Koss-Chioino J.D. (2017). Doctors Who Integrate Spirituality and CAM in the Clinic: The Puerto Rican Case. J Relig Health 56 (1),149-57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0198-7
Spears, C. A., Hedeker, D., Li, L., Wu, C., Anderson, N. K., Houchins, S. C., Vinci, C… and Wetter, D. W. (2017). Mechanisms underlying mindfulness-based addiction treatment versus cognitive behavioral therapy and usual care for smoking cessation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85(11), 1029–1040. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000229
Taylor, K. (2007). Holotropic Breathwork adjunct to substance abuse treatment in therapeutic community. In MFT considering holotropic Breathwork, edited by Taylor & Macy, Santa Cruz: Hanford Mead Publishers Inc.
Treloar, H. R., Dubreuil, M. E., and Miranda, R. (2014). Spirituality and treatment of addictive disorders. Rhode Island medical journal, 97(3), 36-38.
Varambally, S., and Gangadhar, B.N. (2012). Yoga: A spiritual practice with therapeutic value in psychiatry. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 5(2), 186–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2012.05.003
Winkelman, M. (2003). Complementary therapy for addiction: ‘Drumming Out drugs’. American Journal of Public Health. 93 (4):647-51.
Winkelman, M., Roberts, T. (2007). Psychedelic medicine : new evidence for hallucinogenic substances as treatments. Westport, Conn. : Praeger Publishers.