Understanding the Healing Potential of Ibogaine through a Comparative and Interpretive Phenomenology of the Visionary Experience

Abstract

Ibogaine is a hallucinogenic alkaloid, derived from Tabernanthe iboga, a plant unique to the rainforests of West Africa. Its traditional use as an epiphanic sacrament in local magico‐religious practice inspired its appropriation by Western drug addicts by whom it is now hailed as both a catalyst of psychospiritual insight and an effective alleviator of cravings and withdrawal. While scientific and early clinical studies confirm its role in reducing physical withdrawal and craving, debate continues concerning the significance of its “visionary” properties. An analysis of many addicts’ testimonies of recovery, however, places the visionary experience at center stage. I set out to understand mechanisms of transformation and healing, via a comparative phenomenological exploration of this experience, through the opposing lenses of psychoanalysis and cultural constructivism. I propose that at the heart of the healing encounter is a culturally shaped creative journey to an imaginal unspoilt state in personal or collective history. How this experience is recovered and integrated into life is critically considered. I argue a secular account is vital as the ibogaine scene strives toward social and medical legitimacy. If and how such a framework can sit alongside spontaneously emergent spiritual and religious idioms and experience will also be tentatively explored.

EEG Gamma Band Alterations and REM-like Traits Underpin the Acute Effect of the Atypical Psychedelic Ibogaine in the Rat

“…In addition, the spectra were normalized to obtain the relative power by dividing the power value of each frequency by the sum across frequencies. The traditional frequency bands depicted in the figures were taken as: delta (1-4 Hz), theta (5-10 Hz), sigma (11)(12)(13)(14), beta (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) and gamma (30-100 Hz). Spectral coherence : To measure synchronization between electrodes, we employed the magnitude squared coherence using the mscohere built-in function in Matlab (parameters: window = 1024, noverlap = [], fs = 1024, nfft = 1024), which corresponds to 1-s sliding windows with half-window overlap, and a frequency resolution of 1 Hz.…”

“…Subjective reports portray the ibogaine experience as entering into an intense dream-like episode while awake, involving memory retrieval and prospective imagination, without producing the typical interferences in thinking, identity distortions, and space-time alterations produced by classical psychedelics (e.g. DMT, LSD, psilocybin) [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] . Thus, ibogaine is often referred as an oneirogenic psychedelic 8,10,15 .…”

Gamma band alterations and REM-like traits underpin the acute effect of the atypical psychedelic ibogaine

“…In addition, the spectra were normalized to obtain the relative power by dividing the power value of each frequency by the sum across frequencies. The traditional frequency bands depicted in the figures were taken as: delta (1-4 Hz), theta (5-10 Hz), sigma (11)(12)(13)(14), beta (15-29 Hz) and gamma (30-100 Hz).…”

A narrative review of the pharmacological, cultural and psychological literature on ibogaine

“…Under the influence of ibogaine, rats demonstrated rapid acquisition of spatial memory. Rodger (2018) suggested that the experience of retrieving childhood memories and the creation-migration mythology experienced by the Bwiti are regressions. These regressions can be childhood memories, traumatic events or social dynamics that played a role in shaping the perceptions of the individual.…”