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Ibogaine therapy in the treatment of opiate dependency

Peter Brackenridge

Drugs and Alcohol Today December 2, 2010 DOI: 10.5042/daat.2010.0724 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Interventions Ibogaine Psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Topics Addiction Ibogaine
Keywords Opiate Psychotherapist Modalities Addiction treatment Pharmacology
Citations 6
Key points Proposes that combining ibogaine therapy with psychoanalytic psychotherapy provides a novel and effective approach to treating opiate addiction.

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.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on ibogaine for addiction, most cited first.

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