What Is Ibogaine ?
In today’s article, we will be looking at the benefits of ibogaine treatment for anhedonia and depression.
Ibogaine is one of the naturally occurring, psychoactive alkaloids found in the root bark of the Tabernanthe Iboga plant native to equatorial West Africa. This powerful entheogenic plant medicine, from which ibogaine is extracted, is renowned for its ability to regenerate and reset neurotransmitters in the mesolimbic pathways of the human brain.
While it would be a bold claim to say that ibogaine treatment can cure every instance of mental health issues, it has nonetheless proven to be of great benefit to many people suffering from anhedonia and depression.
Here at Tabula Rasa Retreat™ , we have had the opportunity to treat patients suffering from anhedonia. In most cases, after a single treatment with ibogaine, patients have reported marked improvements in mood.
Usually, this occurs not only in the period immediately following their ibogaine treatment. However, because of how the body metabolizes ibogaine, its benefits extend well into the ensuing months. This beneficial effect greatly helps people reclaim their lives with proven success and, more encouragingly, with reduced rates of remission.
What is Anhedonia?
Anhedonia is a common symptom of depressive disorders (including major depressive disorder), and is characterized by an extreme loss of interest in otherwise pleasurable activities, such as music, food, socializing and sex.
This happens because the reward center of the brain has ceased to produce its baseline levels of dopamine and serotonin.
It is common for individuals with anhedonia to experience feelings of emotional numbness, coupled with an innate, negative feeling about life, as well as feelings of hopelessness and, often, suicidal thoughts.
Anhedonia is not only present in individuals suffering from dysthymia or chronic depression, but can also be a consequence of prolonged substance abuse, such as alcohol, opiates and other drugs.
Depression or anhedonia can either result from chemical imbalances, event-based traumas, addiction, or pre-existing medical conditions (such as autoimmune diseases, Parkinsons, etc). They may also be a symptom of neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis.
The symptoms of anhedonia are made manifest because of imbalances in neurotransmitters such as dopamine, as well as other chemical messengers secreted by the body’s nerves; of special importance affecting the severity of anhedonia in an individual is the reduced presence of dopamine.
Anhedonia and Traditional Therapy
Where anhedonia is experienced as a symptom of depression, antidepressant medications such as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are among the more traditionally used, but not necessarily the most effective in addressing the extreme motivational and reward processing dopamine deficits.
Research shows that patients with anhedonia are more neurologically resistant to the effectiveness of antidepressant medication.
This is because the inability to feel pleasure has its origins in the decreased activity of the mesolimbic dopamine projection from the midbrain to the nucleus accumben region. Overall, studies so far remain inconclusive as to how antidepressants may positively affect these regions.
Some doctors have extolled the benefits of alternative medications such as ketamine (a powerful, dissociative anesthetic used to overcome treatment resistance). Although psychedelic microdosing—administering sub-hallucinatory quantities of psilocybin (magic mushrooms) or LSD to treat anhedonia—has also begun to gain some traction within the medical community, it is still far from being accepted.
Another form of therapy is used for severe depression and, consequently, in the treatment of anhedonia, called Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). Electrodes are placed on a patient’s scalp, and a health professional administers electrical currents to the brain while the patient is under anesthesia. This induces seizures, and is thought to be beneficial in helping overcome depressions which prove resistant to antidepressant treatment.
Ibogaine Treatment for Anhedonia and Depression
Even though ibogaine is more commonly associated with the treatment of addiction, it has also had proven benefits in treating depression, anxiety and also anhedonia.
As mentioned above, the conventional clinical approach to treating anhedonia freely prescribes a host of medications, with few proven benefits. The reason for this is that conventional therapy only ever targets the symptoms of depression, while doing little for its root causes.
On the subject of why alternative treatments like psychedelic healing are becoming increasingly popular, Alvaro de Ferranti, founder of Tabula Rasa Retreat™ , considered one of Europe’s leading ibogaine treatment centers, maintains that:
“Products like ibogaine and other entheogenic substances are cutting through the crap. People are bored of talking—they want to go right into the essence of the problem. They want to go deep into their subconscious, which is where and why plant medicines like ibogaine and psychedelics are gaining traction.“
Why Ibogaine Works So Well for Depression and Anhedonia
In general terms, the type of mental health issue can be split into two main categories describing its origins. The latter can either be physical, in which case we speak of internal chemical imbalances or neurological impairment, such as in the case of anhedonia.
On the other hand, a mental health issue can be “trauma-based,” in which case it is often the direct result of a highly traumatic external event, powerful enough to cause chronic depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
It is because ibogaine promotes a neurological reset by targeting and then matching the areas of the brain where impaired function is, present that it is effective in treating mental health issues.
After a full dose of ibogaine, an individual will slip into an intense visionary journey, which can last anywhere from eight to twelve hours.
They will enter a dreamlike state of consciousness called “oneirogenic,” in which memories and events from the past will be brought up by the subconscious in the form of visions, as if one were dreaming whilst awake.
Unlike what happens with psychedelics, where hallucinations happen as one looks upon otherwise familiar objects and things, the ibogaine visions happen mostly when one’s eyes are shut.
As these sometimes visions drawn from one’s subconscious take place, ibogaine gets to work on the mesolimbic pathways of the brain, where it resets and balances neuotrasmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, increasing their levels significantly.
Patients suffering from anhedonia or depression, when treated with ibogaine, frequently report considerable breakthroughs when compared to years of talk therapy and conventional treatments.
To better understand how ibogaine acts on the brain, it is important to first explain the impact of prolonged depression and anhedonia on its neurochemical functioning.
A healthy brain will always produce a baseline threshold of dopamine in order to maintain balance. Whenever we a experience a positive or rewarding situation, more dopamine is released, thereby producing a feelings of pleasure.
However, this increase in dopamine, and the feeling of well-being that accompanies it, are short-lived, as dopamine levels quickly return to their usual threshold. It is precisely because of this return to normality that we are able to feel pleasure repeatedly.
In the brain impaired by anhedonia, these processes work in a radically different way, as the baseline reserves have been depleted by the neurochemical abnormalities present in anhedonia, and the brain, on its own, can no longer produce sufficient serotonin or dopamine for an individual to feel any kind of pleasure.
How Ibogaine Repairs the Brain
Now that we have a better understanding of how the anhedonia alters neurochemical processes, let’s see how ibogaine can reverse its effects.
On the one hand, it triggers dopamine and serotonin production, the two most crucial chemicals in the production of feelings of pleasure and well-being.
On the other hand, ibogaine regenerates areas of the brain damaged either by prolonged depression, anhedonia, and also drug and substance abuse.
For months ensuing a an ibogaine treatment for anhedonia and depression, it will continue present in the body. This benefit is possible because the liver converts ibogaine into a metabolite called noribogaine, allowing patients a sufficient window of time to reclaim their lives, emotions, and regulate their moods.
Should you find yourself worn down by prolonged depression, chronic anxiety, or if you have been diagnosed with anhedonia, consider the possibility of giving us a call here at Tabula Rasa Retreat™, or email us at info@tabularasaretreat.com and we will help you decide if ibogaine is the right choice for you.
For further information visit www.tabularasaretreat.com or call PT +351 965 751 649 UK +44 7961 355 530
