Ibogaine therapy in the treatment of opiate dependency

Ibogaine therapy, combined with psychoanalytic psychotherapy, offers a viable alternative to mainstream opiate addiction treatment. Ibogaine's addiction-arresting and fast-acting properties complement the slow, thoughtful conversation of psychotherapy, creating a novel approach to a difficult condition. Safer than methadone, ibogaine use is increasing worldwide and became a prescription medication in New Zealand in 2010. Howard Lotsof, who discovered ibogaine's anti-addictive properties 47 years earlier, devoted his life to improving access before his death in January 2010. This paper explores how these two approaches differ from other treatment modalities.

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Abstract

Ibogaine therapy offers a viable alternative to mainstream treatment for opiate addiction. The combination of the addiction‐arresting and fast‐acting properties of ibogaine, with the slow and thoughtful conversation of psychoanalytical psychotherapy is a novel approach to what still remains a difficult condition to overcome.Safer than methadone, ibogaine use is steadily increasing world‐wide, and is becoming a more accepted treatment for opiate addiction. This year it has become a prescription medication in New Zealand. Howard Lotsof, who discovered the anti‐addictive properties of ibogaine 47 years ago, and who died in January 2010, devoted his life to improving access to ibogaine treatment, and instigated the first ibogaine providers' conference in Mexico in 2009.This paper explores the use of ibogaine and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the clinic for the treatment of opiate dependency, the relationships between the two approaches, and how they differ from other treatment modalities.