Subjective effectiveness of ibogaine treatment for problematic opioid consumption: Short-and long-term outcomes and current psychological functioning
This survey study (n=88) found that ibogaine can be an effective treatment against opioid addiction.
Authors
- Alan Davis
- Joseph Barsuglia
- Martin Polanco
Published
Abstract
Background and aims: Very few studies have reported the effectiveness of ibogaine as a treatment for chronic opioid use. Therefore, this study evaluated the acute subjective effects of ibogaine, outcomes on problematic opioid consumption, and the long-term associations with psychological functioning.
Methods
Using online data collection, 88 patients who received ibogaine treatment in Mexico between 2012 and 2015 completed our survey.
Results
Most participants (72%) had used opioids for at least 4 years and 69% reported daily use. Most (80%) indicated that ibogaine eliminated or drastically reduced withdrawal symptoms. Fifty percent reported that ibogaine reduced opioid craving, some (25%) reporting a reduction in craving lasting at least 3 months. Thirty percent of participants reported never using opioids again following ibogaine treatment. And over one half (54%) of these abstainers had been abstinent for at least 1 year, with 31% abstinent for at least 2 years. At the time of survey, 41% of all participants reported sustained abstinence (>6 months). Although 70% of the total sample reported a relapse following treatment, 48% reported decreased use from pretreatment levels and an additional 11% eventually achieved abstinence. Treatment responders had the lowest rates of depressive and anxious symptoms, the highest levels of subjective well-being and rated their ibogaine treatment as more spiritually meaningful compared with treatment non-responders.
Conclusion
The results suggest that ibogaine is associated with reductions in opioid use, including complete abstinence, and has long-term positive psychological outcomes. Future research should investigate the efficacy of ibogaine treatment using rigorous longitudinal and controlled designs.
Research Summary of 'Subjective effectiveness of ibogaine treatment for problematic opioid consumption: Short-and long-term outcomes and current psychological functioning'
Introduction
Opioid addiction is described as a major contributor to global disease burden and a pressing public health crisis in the United States and Europe, with high rates of chronic use, dependence and overdose deaths. Mainline treatments such as opioid maintenance therapies (OMT) are effective for some patients but require long-term use, monitoring and carry risks of relapse and iatrogenic harms; this has motivated interest in single‑session pharmacological approaches that might acutely interrupt withdrawal and craving while producing psychotherapeutic effects (for example, insight or increased motivation) to support longer-term change. Davis and colleagues situate ibogaine — a naturally occurring alkaloid historically used in West Central Africa and noted for oneirophrenic, psychedelic and dissociative subjective effects — as a candidate single‑dose intervention for opioid detoxification. Prior small clinical and observational reports suggested rapid mitigation of withdrawal and reductions in craving, but long‑term evidence and larger samples have been limited. The present observational study therefore set out to evaluate short‑ and long‑term self‑reported opioid use outcomes and current psychological functioning among a larger sample of people who received ibogaine treatment at a single clinic in Mexico between 2012 and 2015.
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Compound
- Topics
- Authors
- APA Citation
Davis, A. K., Barsuglia, J. P., Windham-Herman, A., Lynch, M., & Polanco, M. (2017). Subjective effectiveness of ibogaine treatment for problematic opioid consumption: Short-and long-term outcomes and current psychological functioning. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 1(2), 65-73. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.01.2017.009
References (7)
Papers cited by this study that are also in Blossom
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Mash, D. C. · Pharmacological Research (2023)
Rodríguez-Cano, B. J., Kohek, M., Ona, G. et al. · Drug and Alcohol Review (2022)
Köck, P., Frölich, K., Walter, M. et al. · Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (2022)
Romeo, B., Hermand, M., Pétillion, A. et al. · Journal of Psychiatric Research (2021)
Ortiz, M. I., Gómez-Busto, F. J. · Clinical Neuropsychiatry (2020)
Davis, A. K., Averill, L. A., Sepeda, N. D. et al. · Chronic Stress (2020)
Aday, J. S., Mitzkovitz, C. M., Bloesch, E. K. et al. · Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews (2020)
Davis, A. K., Renn, E., Windham-Herman, A. M. et al. · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (2018)
Logrip, M. L., Mash, D. C., Duque, L. et al. · Frontiers in Pharmacology (2018)
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Malcolm, B., Polanco, M., Barsuglia, J. P. · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (2018)
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