Psychedelic plant successfully treats war vets’ traumatic brain injuries: study

By James Gamble via SWNS

An African psychedelic plant "significantly" alleviated the symptoms of war veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries, according to a new study.

Ibogaine, a naturally occurring compound found in the roots of the African shrub iboga, was found to successfully improve functioning, PTSD, depression and anxiety in ex-military veterans.

The plant-based psychoactive drug, which has been used in Africa for thousands of years during shamanic rituals, was also found to contain no adverse side effects - with some veterans saying the experimental treatment saved their lives.

The American research team behind the latest study believe the use of the drug could even spread further to rehabilitate and treat PTSD, anxiety and depression in those without brain injuries.

Ibogaine has been harnessed for a multitude of uses - as a hallucinogen, to suppress hunger and tiredness, and even as an aphrodisiac - for millennia.

But the main active ingredient of Tabernanthe iboga, a West African shrub that grows in the Congo and Angola, can also be fatal.

As a result, the drug is classified as a Schedule I-controlled substance in the United States, and is not approved as a legitimate treatment there.

In the UK, although the substance is not illegal to possess, it remains illegal to distribute the drug outside of a medical environment.

However, in recent years a number of scientific studies have shown how it can be effective as a treatment for addiction therapy and depression.

This latest study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, builds on the evidence of the drug's effectiveness for such symptoms.

The researchers, from Stanford University in the United States, focused on how the drug could be used to treat US special forces veterans suffering symptoms caused by traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

TBI is defined as a disruption in the normal functioning of the brain resulting from external forces such as explosions, vehicle collisions or other impacts on the body.

The trauma associated with TBI can lead to changes in the function and structure of the brain, which can lead to neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Hundreds of thousands of US troops serving in recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have sustained TBIs in recent decades, which are suspected to play a role in the high rates of depression and suicide seen among military veterans in the country.

Due to mainstream treatment options not proving fully effective for some veterans, researchers are now seeking alternative therapies.

Ibogaine has most recently gained interest for its potential to treat opioid and cocaine addiction, with research suggesting it increases the signaling of several important molecules within the brain - some of which have been linked to drug addiction and depression.

But since 1970, the drug has been designated as a Schedule I drug in the US, preventing its use within the country.

As a result, some Americans choose to travel to clinics in neighbouring Canada and Mexico which offer legal ibogaine treatments.

Dr Nolan Williams, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine and lead author of the study, had heard reports of military veterans' successful treatment in such clinics.

"There were a handful of veterans who had gone to this clinic in Mexico and were reporting anecdotally that they had great improvements in all kinds of areas of their lives after taking ibogaine,” Dr Williams said.

“Our goal was to characterise those improvements with structured clinical and neurobiological assessments."

The research team teamed up with the VETS, Inc. foundation, which helps facilitate psychedelic-assisted therapies for veterans.

A group of 30 special-ops veterans with a history of TBI and repeated blast exposures were selected.

Almost all of the group were experiencing clinically severe psychiatric symptoms and functional disabilities, and each had independently booked themselves for treatment with ibogaine at a clinic in Mexico.

Along with the ibogaine, the vets' also received magnesium during their treatment to prevent heart complications that have been associated with the drug.

Prior to their treatment, the researchers assessed the participants' levels of PTSD, anxiety, depression and functioning based on both self-reported questionnaires and clinical assessments.

They then travelled to the Mexican clinic - run by Ambio Life Sciences - where they received ibogaine orally along with magnesium, and later returned to the States for post-treatment assessments.

“These men were incredibly intelligent, high-performing individuals who experienced life-altering functional disability from TBI during their time in combat,” Dr Williams said.

“They were all willing to try almost anything that they thought might help them get their lives back.”

At the beginning of the study, participants were experiencing clinically significant levels of disability, as measured by the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Scale 2.0.

In addition, 23 met the criteria for PTSD, 14 for an anxiety disorder and 15 for alcohol use disorder.

In their lifetimes, 19 participants had been suicidal and seven had attempted suicide.

On average, ibogaine immediately led to significant improvements in functioning, PTSD, depression and anxiety across the group and these effects were also seen to persist until at least one month after treatment, at the end of the study.

Before treatment, the veterans had an average disability rating of 30.2 - equating to mild to moderate disability.

One month after treatment, however, that rating plummeted to 5.1, indicating no disability.

Similarly, one month after treatment participants experienced average reductions of 88 per cent in PTSD symptoms, 87 per cent in depression symptoms and 81 per cent in anxiety symptoms compared to before ibogaine treatment.

Formal cognitive testing also revealed improvements in participants’ concentration, information processing, memory and even impulsivity.

Craig, a 52-year-old study participant from Colorado who served 27 years in the U.S. Navy, said of his treatment: "I wasn’t willing to admit I was dealing with any TBI challenges.

"I just thought I’d had my bell rung a few times — until the day I forgot my wife’s name.

“Since my ibogaine treatment, my cognitive function has been fully restored.

"This has resulted in advancement at work and vastly improved my ability to talk to my children and wife.”

Another veteran from Arizona named Sean, who had six combat deployments, says his ibogaine treatment saved his life.

The 51-year-old said: "Before the treatment, I was living life in a blizzard with zero visibility and a cold, hopeless, listless feeling.

"After ibogaine, the storm lifted.”

No serious side effects were found to have occurred from the treatment, nor were any instances of heart problems linked to ibogaine.

During treatment, veterans reported only typical symptoms such as headaches and nausea.

“No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury,” Dr Williams lauded.

"The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further."

Williams and his team are planning to release further analysis of additional data collected on the veterans but not included in the current study, including brain scans that could help reveal how ibogaine led to improvements in cognition.

They also hope to launch future studies to further understand how the drug might be used to treat TBI.

But Dr Williams believes the breadth of treatment the drug can offer could span wider, saying: "In addition to treating TBI, I think this may emerge as a broader neuro-rehab drug.

"I think it targets a whole host of different brain areas and can help us better understand how to treat other forms of PTSD, anxiety and depression that aren’t necessarily linked to TBI."