TRAUMA | +60 articles

[mr peabody]

How Ibogaine emerged as an addiction treatment in the west

by Faye Sakellaridis | LUCID

In 1962, Howard Lotsof, a 19 year-old New Yorker with a daily heroin dependency, tried a mysterious substance extracted from a West African shrub given to him by a chemist friend. Within 30 hours, after a long and intense trip, his desire for heroin was gone.

Lotsof was astounded. A day and a half went by without using, yet he had zero withdrawal symptoms. The experience itself was illuminating too. “Ibogaine showed him that heroin was something that emulated death,” says anthropologist and ibogaine researcher Thomas Kingsley Brown, PhD. “Before taking ibogaine, he regarded heroin as something that gave him comfort.”

Curious to see if the effects could be duplicated, Lotsof gave it to seven friends who were also addicted to heroin. After the experience, five immediately quit. “The other two said they could have stopped but they just didn’t want to. They liked using,” says Brown.

Ibogaine is the potent psychedelic compound with anti-addictive properties found in the shrub Tabernanthe iboga. It was first isolated in 1901 by J. Dybowski and Ed. Landrin, and introduced to the Western public in France in the 1930s, where a diluted preparation of it was marketed as a mental and physical stimulant. Lotsof sparked its association with treating opioid-dependency, going on to advocate for further research into it, and inspiring many medical practitioners to administer this treatment.

But the history of its usage goes far beyond the west, to the jungles of West and Central Africa, where its steward communities use it as a ceremonial sacrament to this day.

Ibogaine’s ritual history in West Africa

Tabernanthe iboga grows primarily in Gabon, along with surrounding areas like the Congo and Cameroon, where the Pygmy people originally resided. The ritual use of iboga can be traced back to the Pygmies, who introduced it to the Bantu people in the late 1800s, when French colonizers pushed the Bantus out of their coastal villages towards Gabon. The Pygmies initial use of iboga is unknown, likely dating back hundreds, possibly thousands, of years, says Brown.

From this cultural mixing emerged Bwiti, a spiritual tradition which incorporates animism and ancestor worship. Iboga plays a central role in Bwiti as a sacrament for spiritual growth and community bonding, used in healing rituals and initiation rites.

Gabon has at least forty different ethnic groups, resulting in a myriad of Bwiti branches. Most ceremonies involve music (participants play a number of traditional instruments, including percussion, harp and mouth bow) and dance to induce a prolonged trance state, lasting up to five days.

Although the majority of the Gabon population is Christian, most Bwiti practitioners have not adopted Christianity into their practice, with the exception of the Fang people, whose syncretic practice incorporates Christian elements. Bwiti has been persecuted by Christians since its inception, and faces condemnation by missionaries to this day. Aside from the church, Bwiti is well-accepted in Gabon, and a number of government officials and members of the police and army can be found among its initiates.

Ibogaine’s emergence as a treatment for opioid addiction

After his experience, Lotsof was single-mindedly dedicated to lobbying for ibogaine to be taken seriously as a treatment for addiction. His widow, Nora Lotsof, remembers him as “a real gentleman who believed whole-heartedly that anyone with a substance abuse problem should have the right to choose when, and by what means, to stop self-medicating.”

In the 1980s, by which point ibogaine had already been added to the list of forbidden Schedule 1 substances during the War on Drugs, Lotsof founded the NDA International, an organization that promoted research into ibogaine.

In 1986, Lotsof developed a patent for ibogaine as an addiction treatment, and through NDA, co-sponsored human studies on ibogaine in the Netherlands and Panama with other addiction treatment groups in the early 90s.

With the results of these studies, Lotsof was able to persuade the National Institute on Drug Abuse to conduct further research into ibogaine, eventually leading to F.D.A. approval of a Phase 1 clinical trial. Unfortunately, the trial was never completed, in part due to lack of funding and criticism from pharmaceutical companies.

Despite this setback, Lotsof continued to advocate for ibogaine with other researchers and doctors, and work with independent ibogaine clinics in Mexico, Europe, and the Caribbean.

Ibogaine in the modern day

The psychedelic renaissance, which is ushering in a new wave of acceptance for these substances, has raised awareness about ibogaine in psychedelic communities, among newcomers and veterans alike. However, ibogaine remains a Schedule 1 drug which, unlike other psychedelic substances, like psilocybin, has no significant research that could bring it towards FDA approval on the horizon.

Still, ibogaine clinics have been administering this treatment in places where it’s legal or unregulated since the 1990s by physicians and advocates who, like Lotsof, fervently stand by ibogaine’s potential. The Mexico-based ibogaine clinic Beond is staffed with physicians like Dr. Jeffrey Kamlet and Dr. Felipe Malacara, who’ve been successfully using ibogaine to treat addiction for decades in various clinics outside the U.S.

Recent developments have been made around the cultivation and exportation of ibogaine, which has been illegally harvested in Gabon for use in the West. Since the Nagoya Protocol, an international treaty established in 2014 that calls for the fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources, a number of ibogaine organizations are teaming up with Gabonese officials to develop a legal distribution channel for ibogaine that will allow Gabonese communities to benefit.

Among the groups participating is Beond, who will buy Nagoya-compliant iboga when it becomes available, and contribute a portion of their clinic’s proceeds towards projects that support Gabonese communities and indigenous leaders.

https://www.lucid.news/ibogaine-addiction-treatment-in-the-west/​

 

[mr peabody]

Does childhood trauma cause addiction?

Basic biology: children who were neglected or abused did not receive the proper conditions for their nervous systems to develop properly. Because of their volatile caregiver environment, they experience significantly higher volumes of the stress hormone cortisol on a day-to-day basis. If left unaddressed, this carries on into adulthood. In contrast, children who had proper developmental conditions (safe, secure connection to their caregiver) develop a healthy internal hormone regulatory system, and therefore don't experience stress to the same degree as abused or neglected individuals do. Addiction is simply the evolutionary act of seeking a tool to reduce that stress. All addictive substances release biophysically healing (cortisol reducing) neurochemicals called endorphins. The more stress is experienced by the body, the more endorphin activity is required to soothe the body. The more that cortisol levels skyrocket, the more the nervous system automates endorphin-seeking behaviours.

So why does abuse cause so much lasting stress? When a child is in those crucial developmental years that happen before the age of two, a child's brain and body are exceptionally vulnerable to external circumstances. This is evolutionary so that we adapt to our surroundings, learning to keep us safe from harm before anything else. We learn to fear what hurt us so that our bodies react faster to get us out of the way.

To understand this, picture a red-hot stove iron. If you touch it and it burns you - you feel excruciating pain. Your senses - like the sight of the red glow, the sound of the burner - are heightened. They get stored in your limbic system (part of your body's nervous system). So the next time you see your arm near the red hot stove iron, or hear the burner flick on when your hand is on it, your nervous system reacts more immediately than your mind can, in order to jerk your arm out of the way fast. The limbic system stores these sensory memories longer and more deeply than your conscious mind, so that your contemplative, reflective, calculating, longer-to-process, thought system (the brain) is bypassed. The limbic system can then assure that the body reacts faster just at the mere perception of the hot stove iron being close, without having to sit and reflect on whether or not the red stove is hot - your body just knows (before the brain does!)

So how does this relate to Trauma? While a child's nervous system is developing, if their parent of caregiver hits them every time they ask for something they need (like food or a hug), in response to that pain their limbic system stores the sight of a hand being raised, or the loud shout of an angry parent, within its limbic (central nervous) system so that the body can react fast to get out of harm's way. It does this by: releasing high dosages of the stress hormone cortisol and the panic/motivator chemical adrenaline, sending the blood from the brain to arms and legs so that the child can move out of the way as fast as it can. (This is often called "fight or flight" syndrome.) So then later on down the road in that child's life, if they have been struck repeatedly, their nervous system will be set up to alert the body to react even at the mere sight of an arm being raised, or the sound of an angry voice yelling near them. They are on high alert constantly due to an over-adaptation of this very basic survival mechanism.

Now when you bring in the effects that highly addictive substances (like heroin, cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes, high-fat, high-sugar foods) all have in common, it's understandable why so many children who were abused become compulsively fixated on obtaining and using them. The common thread in these addictive substances? The are all extremely efficient tools for the release of endorphins. Endorphins are biochemicals that upon release, activate the reward centre of the brain, soothe stress and anxiety (reduce cortisol levels), momentarily heal pain, and give humans that warm, cozy, "ahhh" feeling - similar to a hug from someone you love. So because children who were abused endure significantly higher levels of stress (the "fight or flight" response and spikes of cortisol are induced far more often) that individual has a tough time dealing with even the smallest of daily tasks and responsibilities that revolve around the emotions of others, and constantly need to reach for something to relieve that stress and the long-term physical pain that notoriously comes from it.

Q: But it happened so long ago, why can't they just get over it?

Again, it's a nervous system response, not a conscious thought response to that childhood trauma. In fact, most adults who were abused as children will tell you, "So what, I'm over it, who cares." while they emit a tough demeanour and a who cares attitude if ever asked about their childhoods. This is because we have been reprimanding sadness, vulnerability, and emotional individuals for centuries - they are deemed undesirables in society and the vulnerable are the first to pick up on that. No one wants to be the victim of abuse so they often block it out, and get tough. But it's their adaptive nature that responds regardless of what they tell themselves in their conscious minds, and to others around them. It takes a lot more than 'acting' tough to work out the limbic and central nervous system's autonomous response to the perception of pain. A lot of times they feel angry that they can't seem to control themselves in the face of whatever drug or drink that controls their lives, but they rarely want to talk about what happened to them as children because they've 'put that behind them'.

Even if a child who suffered through abuse in their developmental stages does find themselves in a position where they have done 'everything right' and avoided smoking, drinking, and drugs - all the things that we've always been told will ruin your life - they will still find themselves engaging over compulsively in other legal things that have the same effects of lighting up the reward center of the brain. Say they can't stop eating highly processed foods, having sex with too many people, overdoing some extreme sports, shopping out of control even when they are in extreme debt. The stress of their overexposure to pain in those developmental years will be too much to handle on their own and if not addressed they will constantly seek a reward to reduce the harm from so many environmental stressors.

To talk a bit more about environmental stressors, contrast the child who was abused, with the child who whenever they asked for a second helping of oatmeal, or an extra hug or blanket before bed, the parent responded with a warm, genuine smile and eye contact, and said, "Sure son, come with me to the kitchen for another scoop" or placed their newspaper down and said, "Of course you can, come in for a hug." The child will not have a built-in nervous system reaction to asking for something and will feel confident that their needs will always be met. This child will grow up into an adult who will be able to ask for a raise for the hard work they've done, while the child who has a maladapted nervous system will be shot with stress and anxiety when they even just think about asking for a raise. In fact, it will become easier for them to avoid an authoritative boss figure all-together. Or if they are in a position where they have to be under the pressure and perception of abuse that comes from a demanding boss, they will find themselves compulsively engaging in something to reduce that very visceral fear and over-reaction of the body's fight or flight syndrome after the perception of any reminder of that initial pain from the developmental years.

Q: I never hit or physically abused my child, so why are they addicted?

Unfortunately, before the science confirmed otherwise, parents thought they were doing a wonderful job if they were just making sure their children weren't physically harmed. But the research now shows that neglect is a silent killer. Most parents in the West don't understand how much their infants need physical touch, eye-contact, and a soothing voice. These things - once considered to be emotional luxuries - are in fact required for the infant's nervous system and biochemical regulation to develop properly. Psychologist John Bowlby called this developing a secure attachment bond. Secure attachment bonds assure that the child develops an armour against stress from rejection, loneliness, and other 'emotional' pain that physically harms the body in the same way that falling and being hit does - you just can't see it. In fact, so-called 'emotional' pain can be so harmful to the body, that Tylenol - a known pain killer - reacts on the same centres of the brain for both physical and emotional pain.

http://www.reframingaddiction.com/section-two-childhood-trauma

 

[mr peabody]

Psychedelic-assisted therapy for grief and the loss of loved ones

by Amber Kraus | PSYCHABLE

Grief is a process that can take years to heal, and it’s not uncommon for people to feel like things will never get better. Psychologists have found that psychedelic-assisted therapy can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety related to grief and increase the feelings of connection with others. If you are struggling with grief or feeling alone after the loss of a loved one, psychedelic-assisted therapy may be able to help you through this challenging time in your life.​

What is psychedelic-assisted therapy?​

Psychedelic-assisted therapy is an experience that therapists may use to help people through personal trauma or mental suffering, such as grief or loss. In this type of therapy, psychedelic drugs are typically administered alongside talk therapy techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for treating anxiety and depression caused by things like grief after the loss of loved ones.

The treatment available in the U.S. for psychedelic therapy is experimental, and currently, only a few substances, like psilocybin and MDMA, have been given breakthrough designation. This FDA designation allows the research process to be fast-tracked with the hope of developing enough evidence to support the approval of the substance for medicinal use. Ketamine therapy is also currently legal for treatment of various mental health disorders.​

The study of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes​

The efficacy of psychedelic substances as a treatment for mental health conditions was studied as early as the 1940s when Swiss scientist Albert Hoffman (who first synthesized the drug in 1939 dosed himself with LSD and took his infamous bicycle ride while under the influence of the psychedelic. He studied the effects of LSD in therapeutic settings and also studied other psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin and mescaline.

When the Controlled Substances Act was passed in 1970, psychedelic drugs were classified as Schedule 1 drugs and were made illegal in the United States. During this time, most of the research around the use of psychedelics came to a halt. However, in the last several years, research has picked up again. More studies are being conducted on psychedelic substances to treat a number of mental health conditions.​

How grief manifests psychologically and physiologically​

Grief manifests in different ways and varying levels of severity depending on the person, the situation, and the intensity of the trauma. There are, however, some psychological and physiological effects that are common in most people who are grieving the loss of a loved one.

The psychological effects of grief and loss are fairly well-known. They include emotional ups and downs ranging from sadness to anger to numbness, feelings of detachment from others, and a loss of personal meaning or faith. Some people experiencing grief may feel survivor’s guilt, or they may feel abandoned by the person they lost. Grief can also cause a person to undergo repeated stress, worry, and anxiety.

Although we often think about those psychological effects of grief and are probably all familiar with them to some extent, we may be less familiar with the role grief also plays a physiological in our bodies. Our minds and bodies are closely connected, and as we process our feelings, we often also experience unpleasant physical sensations. For instance, people may experience chronic pain or physical illness as they process the death of a loved one. They may experience symptoms such as chronic headaches, fatigue, digestive upset, insomnia and lack of appetite, just to name a few.

Psychologists have found that grieving patients often suffer from higher levels of stress and may develop mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD.​

How might psychedelic-assisted therapy help us cope with grief​

Often when we lose a loved one or experience other traumatic life events, psychotherapy is recommended to help us get through the hard times. Recently, scientists have been studying the effects of psychedelics as an adjunct to psychotherapy, and there is reason to believe that this method may be more effective than psychotherapy alone.

While not yet a mainstream treatment, psychedelic-assisted therapy is showing promise for helping people cope with traumatic events. Research suggests that psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA can help to reduce anxiety and depression—which often come after the loss of a loved one—and more effectively resolve PTSD when compared to talk therapy alone.

The most common approach to modern psychedelic therapy makes use of a technique that has its origins in work conducted by the collaboration between Humphry Osmond and Abram Hoffer in the 1950s. This particular technique uses relatively high doses of a psychedelic substance to induce an altered state of consciousness that may be positively transformative. This process emphasizes emotional release, which may be difficult for some people under normal circumstances, as part of the healing process.

When used as an adjunct to psychotherapy, people typically take one or two full doses of a psychedelic drug alongside the guidance of a trained therapist or facilitator. In some cases, the patient only takes one dose of psychedelics while in other scenarios they take two doses: one at an introductory session and then another full-dose during subsequent sessions when working through particularly difficult memories or experiences. The important part of this process is to pair it with psychotherapy. A trained therapist or guide can assist you through the experience by helping you to identify the root of your emotional struggles.

Another form of psychedelic self-experimentation includes consuming small amounts of psychedelics every few days. This is called microdosing, and early research has shown that microdosing certain psychedelics can ease anxiety and break negative thought patterns. Many people who have experienced an unexpected loss respond to the trauma with feelings of anxiety or fear. They may experience repeated negative thoughts surrounding their own mortality or have constant anxiety and worry that something else bad will happen in their lives. Theoretically, microdosing may ease these feelings of anxiety and worry, allowing them to continue with their daily activities effectively.​

The psychedelic experience​

While experiencing a psychedelic trip, one can expect to feel a variety of emotions, not all pleasant. Some people may feel a sense of sadness or despair. Rather than running away from these unpleasant feelings, psychedelic-assisted therapy encourages people to approach their feelings with a sense of curiosity. This can be very beneficial for those who have experienced trauma or loss as it gives them a chance to come face-to-face with these difficult emotions to process the event.​

Psychedelics and spiritual connection​

Some people report having spiritual experiences while taking psychedelic drugs. This can include having an out-of a body experience or feeling intensely connected to the universe. Many people who have had these experiences find it easier to cope after their psychedelic session because of this increased sense that life is meaningful and benevolent. Sometimes part of the struggle to cope with loss is the lack of understanding and a loss of faith when the event occurs. Psychedelics may help people regain that spiritual connection by providing a sense of meaning.​

Finding peace through psychedelic-assisted therapy​

There is no quick and easy way to get through the grieving process. In fact, the process of grieving is important for us to heal, and if we try to ignore the process or push down our feelings, we may never fully get to a place where we feel healed from the loss. Some people have found that psychedelic-assisted therapy can be a helpful tool in the process of grieving and coping with loss when used appropriately under the direction of a trained facilitator.

Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy for Grief and the Loss of Loved Ones

Grief is a process that can take years to heal, and it's not uncommon for people to feel like things will never get better. Psychologists have found that

psychable.com

 

[mr peabody]

Can ibogaine treat emotional trauma?*

by Faye Sakellaridis | LUCID | 17 May 2022

Maggie had been in and out of therapy since she was 12, when her sister committed suicide at 19. Plagued with constant anxiety, she saw ten different therapists over the course of nearly three decades. It helped, but the trauma wasn’t fully resolved. She settled for thinking she was as healed as she’d ever be.

After her father died of COVID-related complications earlier this year, Maggie suffered her first nervous breakdown. “I couldn’t control my physiological response to pain. I had to take pills to sleep and stay calm.”

She felt responsible, like she did when her sister died, as though she’d failed to save them. “It was a protective mechanism,” Maggie explains. “A savior complex where I was always doing everything to take care of others, but not me. It’s a strong position for the ego to take, thinking you can save or fix everyone else’s lives.” Despite knowing this intellectually at the time, it didn’t stop her from feeling chronic anxiety and guilt.

A childhood friend, now a grief counselor, suggested she look into ibogaine, a psychedelic treatment option that has become increasingly used to address depression and trauma. Maggie had limited experience with psychedelics – she’d experimented with ayahuasca and psilocybin mushrooms – but talk therapy alone was not working for her, and her intuition told her this plant medicine might help. This past April, she headed down to Cancun to try this treatment at Beond, a premium ibogaine therapy facility offering a multi-phase delivery model, in the hopes that she would finally find inner peace.

Can ibogaine help treat trauma?

Ibogaine has made headlines for its high success rate in treating opioid addiction. While this is largely due to its ability to “reset” the brain to its pre-addicted state, the profound inner voyage it induces is also integral to the healing process, and there is increasing evidence that it can be an effective therapeutic treatment for mental health issues like PTSD and depression.

Mental health conditions like depression or PTSD may leave one mired in belief systems and thoughts that “aren’t entirely accurate,” explains Lynnette Averill, an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and clinical research psychologist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “Particularly with PTSD, people often experience a lot of guilt, shame, and take blame for things that aren’t theirs to take blame for.”

Neurobiologically, ibogaine offers a “hard reset” from these beliefs by targeting “multiple neurochemical systems at once in a very rapid and robust fashion,” says Averill. It also allows the patient to emotionally and cognitively process root causes behind their trauma, which is where we see a lot of this treatment’s benefit, she says. Individuals who undergo ibogaine treatment commonly report experiencing a “30,000 foot view of their life and sometimes that of their ancestors.”

“Thinking about ourselves as a tiny part of something so much bigger can serve the purpose of grounding us in what the important things are for our lives, as members of our families, our communities, and even of the species,” says Averill.

Dr. Joseph Barsuglia, a clinical and research psychologist with expertise in ibogaine, likens the ibogaine experience to a “dreamlike state.”

”Dreams are where we process our subconscious mind and work out conflict,” says Barsuglia. “It connects you to your own intelligence so you can heal yourself.”

During the ibogaine treatment, Maggie came in contact with different versions of herself: her ideal self, her worst self, and even her eternal self, a vision of who she’d be beyond death. She was surprised at the lack of shame or self-criticism she felt when facing what she considered to be her “worst” self. “I did not feel in any way defensive, ashamed or embarrassed by it. I realized that is who I am when love is not present.”

From there, she watched a montage of childhood memories, revealing root causes of her trauma that predated her sister’s suicide, going back to childhood.

“Ibogaine works in the brain in a more unique way than most psychedelics,” explains Barsuglia, who serves as an advisor to Beond. “It appears to go through your memory database, like a Rolodex of difficult experiences you’ve had that you haven’t metabolized psychologically.” This “life review,” as it’s commonly called, helps the patient confront what they’re running from, so they can evolve past it.

As Maggie observed these core memories unfold, she witnessed more versions of herself throughout her childhood. “I comforted all those parts of me that felt misunderstood, unloved, not taken care of – and I became their parent.”

The role of talk therapy in ibogaine treatment

Maggie was well equipped for helping her child self process pain. In the week before her treatment, Maggie had daily talk therapy sessions with a Beond therapist, who helped her prepare by setting intentions and establishing a framework for the experience. “This was work I had done in therapy the week before,” she says. “I knew what to do with the experience.”

Beond offers a 5-phase treatment delivery model called “Insight Oriented Ibogaine” that includes a preparation stage, pre-treatment protocols, the treatment itself, and an aftercare plan for post-treatment and long-term to support the patient in their journey. After completing initial comprehensive medical screening procedures, patients engage in daily hour-long sessions with a therapist to set intentions and work through any fears and concerns they may have about their treatment.After treatment, the patient completes a minimum of two integration sessions with Beond’s psychology team, and maintains contact with the clinic in the months following their stay to evaluate and advance their progress.

“Therapy is a critical piece for ibogaine treatment,” says Averill. It’s a time to set intentions and address significant fears before going into treatment. “It helps them feel grounded and safe.” Therapy after is just as crucial. Ibogaine treatment can be challenging, and a third party perspective can help the patient process and understand what they experienced, she says.

Averill stresses that ibogaine treatment isn’t a magic bullet. “It’s not as though you have this experience and you never need to worry about your problems again,” she says. “Ibogaine provides a foundation from which there’s a sudden shift, an opportunity that people can then build on. But they have to do the work of continuing to build, continuing the integration work and building healthy habits.”

How does ibogaine affect the brain?

Ibogaine afforded Maggie stunning clarity about the underlying source of her trauma, illuminating the origin of the behaviors and coping mechanisms she’d developed throughout the years in response to her pain. “All the decisions I’d made to protect myself from further suffering became so obvious, it was easy to let them go.”

Recent research is helping to explain the physiological mechanisms behind the treatment’s success. “Ibogaine seems to increase blood flow to deep brain structures that are emotional centers,” explains Barsuglia. “Some literature suggests that those parts of the brain are where we hold some of our deepest pain and the roots of trauma. Ibogaine increases communication with these more primitive and preverbal parts of the brain so deeper issues can be brought into consciousness and processed.”

Averill feels that further research into ibogaine may tell us more about its effects on the default mode network, the part of our brain that’s most active when someone isn’t focusing on any one thing in particular. For someone with PTSD, their default mode network tends to be restless and hypervigilant, “running at 300 miles an hour” with intrusive thoughts, she says. “Research has shown that psilocybin quiets that. I think something similar would be found with ibogaine.”

After her treatment, Maggie felt a profound sense of peace. “I never thought it was possible,” she says. Her mind’s nervous, incessant chatter has quieted. Instead of being easily triggered by external stimuli, she now has “complete autonomy” over how she responds to things. Coping mechanisms she used to rely on to numb anxiety, like finding the perfect meal, no longer have the same hold on her. And she’s lost the compulsion to solve other people’s problems for them.

Maggie marvels at the “brilliance” of the plant, which went right to the root causes of her trauma, and overrode firmly entrenched pathways in her brain, clearing space for new behaviors and perspectives. The experience left her feeling securely anchored in her newfound peace, with a comprehensive understanding of her life’s story.

“For many people, it is a very powerful and meaningful thing to step back and explore what led us to this moment. How did we get to where we are now? What are the aspects that we want to move forward with, and what is not serving us?” says Averill. “We don’t exist in a vacuum. We are shaped by the things we were taught about how to interact with the world, and how to cope with stress and trauma.”

“Ibogaine showed me the landscape of my entire life in a very specific way. It’s like being in a haunted house, and someone turns the lights on, so you can see the mechanisms behind how everything works,” says Maggie. “I know, and can feel, where my peace is grounded.”

*PAID POST SPONSORED BY BEOND

Can Ibogaine Treat Emotional Trauma? - Lucid News

Ibogaine has made headlines for its ability to treat opioid addiction, but evidence shows it may also be an effective therapeutic treatment for mental health issues like PTSD and depression.

www.lucid.news