A study in European Neuropsychopharmacology finds that ayahuasca helps rats learn that a previously dangerous environment is safe. This effect appears to rely on BDNF signaling within the infralimbic cortex, suggesting a potential biological pathway for treating trauma.
Psychedelic drug like Ayahuasca, DMT, Psilocybin can create in humans similar experiences as we know it from Near-Death Experiences(NDEs):
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214377 Survey of subjective ´God encounter experiences´. Comparison among naturally occurrring experiences and those occasioned by the classic psychedlics psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca and DMT
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01424 DMT models the near-death experience
It is possible to explain NDEs completely as a recall of memories which we can perceive as a conscious experience. e.g. memories since the 5th month of fetus-age are reactivated in exactly the same order as the physical senses develop: touch sense > acoustic sense > optical sense > birth(indirect) > early social-/environmental-experiences > autobiographical experiences since the 2nd year of childhood up to the actual age.
(I have published this NDE-explanation since 2006)
When we compare NDEs with experiences under psychedelics then we can see — that psychedelic drugs trigger similar/identical experiences es we know it as ´early social-/environmental-experiences´ in NDEs:
This is a hint, that psychedelic drugs reactivate SELECTIVELY ( ! ) memories and/or mental states, which belong to the early childhood.
And this might be a reason why psychedelics can be used in the treatment of depressions or trauma — because it reopen a mental state of an age where this person was healthy.