Scientists believe ibogaine can help veterans overcome PTSD

The war machine is the one funding so the framing makes sense. Not that I like it... I would prefer that the concept of a war veteran was non existent but that is akin to wishing the moon was made out of cheese.

The research on ptsd began with US veterans afaik. It’s probably the group that is most studied for it and also receives trials.

The US also spends a large amount of money on each veteran. If they can find a cure for trauma they would benefit hugely from it. The side effect of this is that others would benefit as well.

I read it less as "this only helps veterans" and more as "veterans are the group this particular research and funding path is centered on"

It's who the trials are done on. US veterans have their own health care system, so that may have played a role in why they were targeted for the research.

Way back in something like 2002, I was in college. One day at my then-girlfriend’s apartment east of campus, she got a phone call. An old friend of hers was in town, so she told him to come over. I don’t know his name, but let’s call him J., which is a randomly selected letter.

J. was a traveling Ibogaine ... healer? He went from city to city, summoned by the loved ones of advanced heroin addicts, to attempt one last Hail Mary shot at recovery.

These were situations of absolute desperation, and I can’t overstate the seriousness with which he took his adopted occupation. He described to us in detail his process.

First, he interviewed the person requesting help, seeing what else they had tried and trying to suss out if Ibogaine would be worth the risk. He turned away most callers.

Those who he accepted would be dropped off at his van, inside which was a mobile, DIY ICU of sorts: a bed, food, water and emergency medical supplies. He would administer the ibogaine (I don’t know what form this took), and then, in his words, the patient would undergo a 2 to 3-day continuous hallucination.

During this time, in J.’s observations, the patient was almost always ‘visited’ by dead relatives, who typically admonished the patient for what had become of them, laying into them with real talk about the state of their life.

J. said half of the patients came out of this experience fundamentally changed, and effectively cured of their addiction to heroin. I don’t know if he had any data (anecdotal or otherwise) on recidivism, but the implication was that this was likely to be permanent.

But, he said, the other half went insane, which is why he spent a great deal of effort screening families and informing them of the risks.

I don’t know how much, if any, of this is true. I don’t know what ‘insane’ means, or meant. But I remember vividly how seriously this guy took it, without ever coming off as some kind of self-satisfied guru or medicine man, believing himself to be a god, or anything like that. He never accepted money. He lived somewhat roughly. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

Vets kill themselves a lot so I guess it's easier to propose crazier stuff because the alternative is very bad.

It's political posturing, makes it more likely to get bipartisan support. Female rape victims are not as unimpeachable as the (superficially) hallowed veteran in American society.

People like to use us war veterans to wash their agendas through

We’re one step below “think of the children”

This is nuts. Bringing ECT into the discussion of a novel psychedelic medicine.

Totally different ballparks. Well-established results vs. very little formal research.

Have you had ECT, or do you know anyone who has? It's a last resort for horrible depression and not much else. It has huge risks, and while it does often make these people's lives manageable, it shouldn't be in the same discussion as a medication that's been out of discussion for political reasons.

shivers at the thought of ECT

Because ECT is whitewashed shock therapy, which in turn- is a whitewashed lobotomy.

It's strange how much attention novel psychedelic treatments get compared with older, less glamorous interventions that already help a lot of people

Would the treatment be any different? It's my understanding that were have no way of accelerating repair from neurological damage and instead focus on therapies to regain ability.

PTSD doesn't have anything to do with brain damage.

PTSD is a trauma response.

Are you thinking of TBI? TBI is a cumulative impact of small and large head trauma.

Saliva divinorum is inherently dysphoric due to its agonism of the kappa opiod receptor. For a different cheap legal drug that affects serotonin and the NMDA receptors like ibogaine does, there's always off label use of dextromethorphan (cough medicine)!

What? These two substances aren't even in the same ballpark.

Or LSD, or magic mushrooms.

As someone who takes antidepressants this is nonsensical to me. I don’t feel 100% normal on an SSRI, I experience the normal side-effects of flat affect and weird tastes, etc. But the alternative is regular panic, exhaustion, indigestion, and general volatility that makes my life difficult and hard for others to interact with me.

If dissociation is better than regular PTSD, then go for it. We don’t expect people with hip replacements to have 100% mobility. We don’t expect cochlear implants to hear better than healthy ears. Mental health interventions have similar tradeoffs.

Go ahead and run your randomized clinical trials and report back.

The healthcare community would be thrilled to find out – with certainty – that your interventions work.