Want to know what dying feels like? Taking psychedelic jungle plant Ayahuasca – popular with tourists in Latin America – is ‘intriguingly’ close to near-death experiences, experts find
- It is consumed in liquid form by native people in central and south America
- Jungle plant Ayahuasca is used to produce the psychedelic drug known as DMT
- Scientists did experiment that found takers experience near death experience
A traditional jungle plant can simulate a ‘near-death experience’ when eaten, a study has found.
Ayahuasca, which is consumed in liquid form by natives in Central and South America, is used to produce the psychedelic drug known as DMT.
Researchers have found a ‘large overlap’ between descriptions of so-called NDEs and the effects of the drug, whose name translates as ‘vine of the dead’.
Ayahuasca, which is consumed in liquid form by natives in Central and South America, gives consumers an experience close to what we feel before we die. File image
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A team from Imperial College London gave 13 volunteers DMT and then asked them to complete a questionnaire.
They compared their responses to those of a sample of 67 people who had previously had NDEs.
Both groups reported visions of bright light, feeling outside one’s body, travelling through a ‘void’, inner peace and a sense of transitioning to another world.
The study said the striking comparison occurs because the drug and NDEs trigger similar processes in the brain.
Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, lead author of the study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, said studying the effects of DMT would help scientists ‘better understand the psychology and biology of dying’.
Groups taking part in a new study reported visions of bright light, feeling outside one’s body, travelling through a ‘void’, inner peace and a sense of transitioning to another world. File image
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