While other forms of addiction might receive the lion’s share of media coverage, alcoholism is an extremely serious, deadly, widespread, and destructive form of substance abuse. The World Health Organization estimates that 5% of the global population suffers from this debilitating condition, and in some parts of Europe that rate is as high as 11%. Alcohol abuse is a top 5 cause of premature death in the world, and the CDC estimates that 261 Americans die every day from alcohol-related causes.
Yet successfully treating this wide-spread affliction has proved challenging. Doctors estimate that only 20% of people suffering from alcohol abuse disorders ever meet with their physicians and seek medical treatment. Data suggests that 92% of Americans dealing with alcoholism do not seek help. Even after receiving treatment, alcohol addiction is a remarkably stubborn and tenacious disorder. For users of illicit drugs, it can be easy to avoid situations where cocaine or heroin are present and openly used. For the recovering alcoholic, it is often impossible to avoid situations where others are drinking, and where the social pressure to imbibe is felt. Battling alcoholism is a life-long struggle where triggers will always be present, whether through advertising, peers, or the regular offers of a drink at parties, on plane rides, or during family gatherings.
Here’s how ibogaine can help any alcoholic win that battle…
The Basics of Ibogaine Therapy
Ibogaine’s potential for combating addiction was discovered by an American named Howard Lotsof, who found that the substance alleviated his withdrawal symptoms from, and cravings for, heroin. In the years that have followed, scientists have discovered more about this powerful oneirogenic substance’s ability to help those seeking to break free from addiction. While ibogaine cannot help alcoholics with their withdrawal symptoms, many of its other properties have been effective in treating this persistent form of addiction.
Claudio Naranjo, the Chilean psychiatrist who was one of the first researchers to conduct clinical experiments with the substance in the 1960s and 1970s concluded that “ibogaine helped people to view difficult experiences in an objective way, and that it helped to facilitate closure of unresolved emotional conflicts.” The visions obtained during the ibogaine experience often allow the patient to confront and come to terms with traumatic experiences. They also allow the user to re-examine their relationships with substances of abuse with fresh eyes, enabling growth and change.
Ibogaine interacts with hormones and receptors in the central nervous system in ways that counteract the effects of addiction. While these mechanisms are complex and interrelated with many hormones, proteins, and neurological systems, some leading theories have emerged to explain its efficacy. It resets dopamine receptors, which are critical in the brain’s processing of motivation and reward. Noribogaine, an alkaloid released when ibogaine is administered, is associated with increased neuroplasticity, a mental capability strongly associated with growth, learning and change. There is also evidence that ibogaine resets many neurotransmitters in the brain to a “pre-addicted state”, which greatly reduces cravings and triggers for relapse for a period of 3-6 months following treatment.
Ibogaine And Alcohol
The vast majority of research on ibogaine thus far has concentrated on its efficacy in combating opiate and opioid addiction, so evidence illustrating its efficacy in treating alcoholism is limited. As Science Direct notes “Pharmacological models suggest that ibogaine is a promising therapeutic agent for treating alcohol use disorders; however, to date, no formal studies have examined this specific application in humans.”
Pre-clinical evidence does exist, in studies performed on rodents, who demonstrated significantly lower rates of alcohol usage after being treated with ibogaine. The researchers who conducted those studies concluded that long-acting effects on the brain’s dopamine and serotonin production and reception systems were likely responsible for the change. Long term alcohol abuse generally changes the brain’s ability to produce serotonin and dopamine, and ibogaine shows the potential to reverse those changes. Ibogaine also elevates mood for a period of some months after initial treatment, an effect that can make it easier for the addicted to progress in recovery.
The substance’s effects are not limited to hormonal shifts though. Research shows that the oneirogenic state induced by ibogaine “stimulates heightened memory retrieval specifically related to drug abuse, the perception of one’s own future with or without drug use, and visions which reveal powerful insights into the psychological factors contributing to the addiction, such as emotionally unresolved personal traumas” according to a study conducted in 2017.
This ability dovetails beautifully with the work on addiction conducted by the brilliant Dr. Gabor Mate. Mate feels that addiction is not a disease or the result of personality traits, but rather an issue which “originates in a person’s need to solve a problem: a deep-seated problem, often from our earliest years that was to do with trauma and loss.” He views the use and abuse of substances as the result of a drive to regulate our emotions and situations in order to make the pain we feel bearable. Ibogaine can help us overcome addiction by allowing us to confront and learn to live with the trauma that is at its root. Alcohol abuse is frequently a means of escape from the pain we feel every day, but often the escape deepens our pain, causes intense shame, and makes the problems we are escaping worse. Recovery lies in coming face to face with trauma and moving forward in a positive direction. We have seen ibogaine make this possible for the vast majority of our clients.
Next Steps
At Tabula Rasa Retreat, we have experience using ibogaine to treat alcoholism, and we have seen its power to heal this debilitating affliction. It isn’t an easy process, as you’ll need to detox before you can undergo treatment, since the mixture of alcohol withdrawal and ibogaine can create powerful adverse side-effects. We DO NOT recommend that you attempt to treat alcoholism with ibogaine on your own, but if you have any questions regarding the process, or moving forward with ibogaine therapy, we’re happy to provide you with any information you need!
For further information visit www.tabularasaretreat.com or call PT +351 965 751 649 UK +44 7961 355 530