31st March 2020 • Sticky Post

Eating Disorder Treatment: How Can Iboga Help You?

Most discussions of eating disorders tend to focus on positive and negative body images, the fashion industry, and an obsession with weight loss. But the renowned physician Dr. Gabor Mate would argue that eating disorders fall into the realm of addiction. As he puts it; “I have never met an anorexic or bulimic who was not a traumatized person…a person who is desperately trying to exert some control over themselves.”

Are Eating Disorders an Addiction?

Dr. Mate’s fascinating philosophy of addiction posits that all addictions have their roots in early childhood experience, as our nervous and hormonal systems find ways to adapt to stress, wiring our brains’ developing systems of desire and reward in certain specific ways. Those with eating disorders are seeking either a sense of pleasure or an escape from inner pain through their relationship with food, in the same manner, and with the same mental processes and responses as a heroin addict seeks release through the drug. For more detail on Dr. Mate’s beliefs on emotional eating and addiction, we recommend this lecture.

If we accept that eating disorders are an addiction, we need to view their treatment through a different lens. The addicted brain has significant differences in its circuitry than a healthy brain. The systems which regulate the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that controls the body’s reward system, essentially stop producing pleasure except when triggered by the addictive substance. As our understanding of neurology has grown, we have learned that addiction hardwires certain behaviors into our minds. The addicted brain develops different responses to stress, anxiety, and substances of abuse than the healthy brain. The neurotransmitters and receptors which govern pain and pleasure take proteins from other neurons to create pathways that respond only to the presence or absence of a drug. Scientific studies have shown abnormalities in the neural processes of anorexics that aren’t dissimilar to addiction. And like addicts, those suffering from anorexia demonstrate an inability to alter their eating habits, even after expressing the desire to change. 

American Addiction Centers uses the analogy of a hiking trail to explain the concepts of neural pathways and neuroplasticity: “ brains form neural pathways in a way that is similar to the formation of a well-traveled hiking trail. The more we travel a path, the faster, easier, and more familiar that path becomes. As we travel it more and more, it becomes wider, smoother, and easier to travel. It becomes a preferred route.” We can expand on this analogy in regard to the recovery process. As you learn to live a healthy life, you are essentially carving out a new path in a dense forest. The going will be slow, and the work will be hard, but each time your brain returns to this new trail, the journey will be smoother than the previous one. Every decision which supports your new lifestyle will be easier than the one before. Battling addiction is never easy, and it requires tremendous effort and strength, but promising alternative treatments can give you the push you need to start blazing a new trail!

How Iboga Can Help

Iboga is a powerful, oneirogenic (meaning that it produces a waking dream state), plant-based medicine. It comes from the tabernanthe iboga plant which grows in West Africa and is an essential part of that region’s Bwiti spiritual traditions. Iboga has shown great promise in treating addiction and chemical dependence because of its ability to counter the withdrawal symptoms and cravings of heroin and opioid addiction with a single dose. But its benefits aren’t limited to those battling substance abuse.

Iboga has been proven to increase levels of GDNF, a protein that is produced by the brain in early childhood. GDNF is a fundamentally important protein for personal development because it rapidly increases the production of new neurons and allows for increased neuroplasticity. This is why childhood is the best time for people to learn new languages, figure out how to play musical instruments, and experiment with new habits and ideas. GDNF also helps to regulate responses to drugs of abuse and dopamine receptors in the brain and is extremely beneficial for creating and sustaining new habits and patterns of decision making and behavior. 

For those suffering from eating disorders, GDNF has the potential to dramatically impact treatment outcomes. Its ability to create new ways of looking at the world, and neural pathways which respond to stress, pain, control, and pleasure in different ways can make all the difference in developing a healthy relationship with food, and escaping the cycle of emotional eating. 

Next steps

Iboga isn’t a miracle cure for eating disorders or drug abuse, but the 3-6 month window following treatment offers you a window of time in which you will see the world differently, and gain the ability to develop healthy new habits. The way you think about life and analyze your environment will change perceptibly, and you’ll be receptive to changes and ideas that could literally save your life! At Iboga Tree Healing House, we’re committed to exploring the potential of ibogaine to reclaim lives devastated by eating disorders, and if you have any questions, we’d be more than happy to discuss them with you!