Research in the Amazon
Dr Ruffell’s work sits at the intersection between traditional medicine such as Shipibo curanderismo and Western concepts of mental health.
He primarily conducts research in the Amazon rainforest in Peru. His work focuses in particular on the use of ceremony in returning people back to a state of balance and harmony.
To read about the reciprocity initiatives implemented by Dr Ruffell and the Onaya Science team please see the Reciprocity page.
Current Research
Dr Ruffell and the Onaya Science team are currently collaborating with the Heroic Hearts Project to investigate the impact of ayahuasca retreats for military veterans who have experienced trauma.
In this study, participants attend retreats in the Peruvian Amazon for specially designed research programmes. The team is looking at psychometrics, brainwaves, gut microbiome, and epigenetic change to quantify potential effects.
This work builds on previous research which found that ayahuasca, when taken in traditional ceremonial practices, leaves epigenetic marks on genes associated with trauma. This study aims to explore further these findings in an effort to clarify the biological networks that ceremonial ayahuasca may be impacting.
Publications
On this page is a selection of Dr Ruffell’s published work. You can access all his scientific publications following the link below:
Ceremonial ayahuasca in Amazonian retreats - mental health and epigenetic outcomes from a six-month naturalistic study (2021)
In this prospective naturalistic study, 63 self-selected participants took part in ayahuasca ceremonies at a retreat centre in the Peruvian Amazon, completing mental health measures and providing saliva samples for pre/post epigenetic analysis.
Modulatory effects of ayahuasca on personality structure in a traditional framework (2020)
This paper assesses the impact of ayahuasca on personality in a traditional framework catering for ayahuasca tourists.
PhD Thesis
Dr Ruffell’s thesis comprises five studies exploring Amazonian ayahuasca and mental health outcomes. The research is among the first to investigate Shipibo-style ayahuasca retreats in the Peruvian Amazon.
