addiction recovery Archives - Iboga Tree - Ibogaine Treatment Centers Europe

30th November 2020

Making Amends: A Pathway To Healing

One fundamental aspect of addiction is the way it forces addicts to violate their principles, beliefs, and values. In every life, we are bound to cause harm to others, regardless of intent, and often without our knowledge. But for the addicted, these transgressions can sink to truly appalling depths. One of the most essential parts of recovery is coming to terms with the harm we have caused to the people close to us, and whenever possible, doing everything we can to relieve the pain we have dished out. Let’s take a closer look at the process of making amends.

What is " Making Amends"?

A reductive definition would be “apologize sincerely to those you’ve hurt.” But experts at the Betty Ford Clinic have identified one of the key differences between apologies and amends. They rightly point out that amends are actions, whereas apologies are often just words. One of the keys to recovering from addiction is aligning your intentions and your actions. In the case of making amends, this can be defined as the difference between saying you’re sorry for having stolen from someone and creating a re-payment plan. By uniting your actions with your words, you can convince others that you’re committed to repairing wrongs and relationships. Compare this to the thousands of useless apologies you probably offered to those around you when you were using! Amends are so important because they are an actual, concrete manifestation of the changes that occurred within you when you moved from addiction into recovery.

Making Amends and The 12 Steps

If you’re familiar with the 12-Step model of recovery, you’ve probably already been thinking about Steps 8 and 9 as you read the last two paragraphs. For the uninitiated:

Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

These two steps are invaluable parts of the foundation to sober living. We need to deal with our pasts to move into a brighter future. We would recommend following through with these two steps even if you’re committed to a peer support program other than the AA/NA model.

Alternative Ways To Make Amends

While SMART Recovery and Practical Recovery don’t have a specific policy for making amends, they realize that the process is valuable for many in recovery, and they recommend acknowledging your role, apologizing, and making things right if it’s possible to do so.

You may have read our recent blog post on Naikan Therapy - a recent addition to the Iboga Tree Healing House recovery toolbox. In Naikan therapy, realization is the first step toward making amends. Naikan helps to develop a realization about one’s wrongs and one’s part in those wrongs. Naikan teaches that one needs realization in the beginning - which is the most complex part of the amends process.

Naikan therapy helps one reach realization, and how (even if) amends are actually made is a personal choice. Some people may pay back by helping others, cleaning the soul, serving elderly people, parents, etc. Some people do not make direct or indirect amends at all.

In the Naikan model, the psychotherapist can encourage amends to be made, but the amends process is by no means an essential part of one’s recovery.

For those seeking to make amends for past wrongs, let’s explore the process of making amends in a little more depth.

Direct Amends

The phrase essentially means that you try to establish face-to-face communication with the person you’ve wronged. If they’re unwilling to meet with you, or time and distance will not allow for a meeting, we recommend trying to communicate as directly as possible, via Facetime, phone, email, or letter. You should always be open by acknowledging the pain and hurt you have caused, and avoid finding fault or shifting blame. Demonstrate through your words and actions how you have changed. Offer them whatever you can to repair the damage you’ve done, and try to find ways to enable them to heal.

Injuring Others: How Not To Do It

If you think that the process of making amends would cause needless harm, stress, mental anguish, or any other type of pain to another person, there’s no need to burden them in order to unburden yourself. As Step 9 dictates, “except when to do so would injure them.” Bear in mind that your goal in this process should be helping them to deal with the wrongs you’ve inflicted, not seeking closure for yourself. If you have painful information they’re unaware of and have no need to receive, ask yourself if they would actually benefit from receiving it. If you suspect that the answer might be “no”, try to do something else to atone for your actions, like volunteering your time with the needy, making a donation to a worthy cause, or taking steps to help out someone else in your life. You can atone for your actions without making them suffer.

What if Someone Doesn't Want to Meet Me?

There might be someone in your life to whom you are desperate to make amends to who wants nothing to do with you. If someone who you’ve hurt doesn’t want to accept your apologies and amends, it’s best to accept that fact and find some other way to reach closure for yourself. Intentionally taking positive and benevolent action in another part of your life can allow you to move forward and accept their decision to wash their hands of you. We never recommend forcing the issue and putting someone you’ve already harmed in an uncomfortable situation.

Avoiding Dangerous Situations

If someone who you’ve harmed is still actively addicted and using substances regularly, you should be very careful about putting your fragile sobriety at risk. You can try to nudge them towards treatment or ensure that you meet them in a safe place without any triggers or stressors that could fuel a relapse. While making amends is very important, as the Betty Ford Clinic notes, “our primary responsibility is to safeguard our own health and recovery from substance abuse.”

Don't Do It Alone

It’s important to consult with mentors, counselors, peers, sponsors, and relevant guides such as AA’s Big Book. Making amends is a long and arduous process that can cause fresh stresses and problems. Those who have experience with it are a resource that can help you avoid pitfalls along the way and ensure that you emerge happier, healthier, and stronger. They can reassure you that you are doing the right thing, even if the people that you have wronged respond to your efforts to heal with hostility, dismissiveness, or contempt. We’re always stronger together!

Why Make Amends?

Making amends is so necessary because it will deepen your understanding of the pain and suffering that addiction has caused to those around you. It can offer the opportunity to rebuild broken connections with your family and loved ones. But it also has substantial benefits for your own mental health. As addictions expert and Professor of Family Medicine Chris Ebberwein states “making amends means taking ownership for causing hurt, and then doing something to correct or heal it. Making amends puts to rest the temptation to be stuck in self-blame or to blame others. It allows the recovering person to move ahead toward correcting mistakes that were made and healing old hurts.” At Iboga Tree Healing House we’ve seen firsthand the way attempting to right past wrongs can heal the scars of addiction and build self-esteem and happiness.

24th June 2020

Addiction Treatment Trends: 3 Alternatives Driving Change

Addiction treatment trends are constantly evolving. As we deepen our understanding of neurological processes in general, and the addicted mind in particular, we discover more effective ways of dealing with addiction and helping the addicted in their recovery journey. From the 12 Step Program to the Johnson Intervention to Methadone and Suboxone, new treatments have always grown out of medical and scientific innovations. And today there are treatments that show incredible promise ready to burst into the mainstream. As neuroscientists and neuropsychologists unearth new data, the way we understand addiction is changing, and the treatments which are leaping to the forefront are those that help to heal the minds of addicts.

Addiction treatment trends are constantly evolving. As we deepen our understanding of neurological processes in general, and the addicted mind in particular, we discover more effective ways of dealing with addiction and helping the addicted in their recovery journey. From the 12 Step Program to the Johnson Intervention to Methadone and Suboxone, new treatments have always grown out of medical and scientific innovations. And today there are treatments that show incredible promise ready to burst into the mainstream. As neuroscientists and neuropsychologists unearth new data, the way we understand addiction is changing, and the treatments which are leaping to the forefront are those that help to heal the minds of addicts.

NAD+

Addiction Treatment Trends: 3 Alternatives driving change

NAD+ is a naturally occurring co-enzyme of niacin which has shown immense promise as a treatment for substance abuse disorders, as well as many of the symptoms of aging. Studies have shown that addicts generally have very low levels of NAD+ in their systems, and many of the physical and mental disorders that frequently co-occur with addiction have been proven to deplete the body’s store of this essential nutrient. Proponents of the treatment tout its ability to restore the balance of neurotransmitters, which is disrupted by the process of withdrawal, decreasing withdrawal symptoms and cravings.

NAD+ was first used as a treatment for alcoholism in South Africa in the 1960s, and it came to the notice of Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, who experimented with taking 3000 mg of niacin daily, and found it immensely helpful. He even wrote a pamphlet promoting it as a cure for alcoholism. In spite of this, its use never became widespread, and the first NAD+ treatment center in the US, the Springfield Wellness Center, wasn’t opened until 2001. The facility was opened by Psychotherapist Paula Mestayer and her Psychiatrist husband Richard. Since opening, they’ve successfully treated thousands of patients. Dr. Mestayer feels that the treatment is most successful when used as a “maintenance”, and finds that many clients come back for booster doses. She also notes that NAD+ treatment is particularly effective when dealing with alcoholism and opiate addiction.

NAD+ works in theory because it creates “neuroplasticity”, the brain’s ability to create new neural pathways and heal itself. Years of addiction condition the brain to release dopamine when given substances of abuse, and to respond to stress, pain, and anxiety by treating them with drugs and alcohol. NAD+ can help to change the structure of the brain, offering addicts the chance to gain pleasure from activities other than substance abuse and to find new ways to cope with the stresses of life.

For a more in-depth article on NAD+, click here.

Iboga

If you’ve kept up with our blog, you already know about Iboga’s uncanny ability to treat withdrawal symptoms and substance cravings, as well as its ability to reset dopamine receptors in the brain to a pre-addicted state. If you haven’t, we’d recommend checking out this post on Iboga’s efficacy for treating opioid addiction. In addition to its treatment benefits, the substance induces an egoless, reflective state that can also help addicts confront and overcome past trauma and certain mental health issues.

Furthermore, Iboga is not habit-forming and is unlikely to be abused. There is no evidence that it is physiologically or psychologically addictive. As one user described the experience: “I wouldn’t recommend it to somebody who is trying to have fun. If you want your body to explode into 1000 pieces and then rebuild itself, then yeah. But don’t expect it to be pleasant.” While there have been no systematic, controlled clinical trials in the US or Europe (mainly because the substance is classified as a Schedule I drug), there are thousands of testimonials from people who credit the substance with saving their lives and allowing for them to recover from the nightmare of addiction.

Iboga use is not without risk. It can be deadly for those with pre-existing cardiac conditions, and in absolutely massive doses it may induce seizures. But even though it is often self-administered, or used without medical supervision in unsafe settings due to its murky legal status, it is still safer than methadone, causing 1 death in every 427 treatment episodes, compared to a 1:364 mortality rate for methadone. Click this link for more on the risks and safety precautions that are too often ignored by irresponsible treatment providers. And if you’d like to know more about iboga treatment, we’re happy to answer your questions.

Getting Holistic

Addiction recovery, like cancer recovery, comes with a chance of relapse. And while treatments that deal with cravings and withdrawals are a wonderful tool you can use to heal yourself, dealing with the underlying causes of addiction, whether physical pain, mental trauma, depression, anxiety, or PTSD, is the only way to truly heal yourself. This is why the American Addiction Centers’ resource guide lists a host of techniques that can help lead you into a healthy new life, including equine therapy, biofeedback, yoga, and mindfulness training. As they write, holistic therapies “offer a more comprehensive approach” that heals on “mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual” levels, “increasing the chances for success and reduc[ing] the risk of relapse.”

At Iboga Tree Healing House, we are firmly convinced that holistic treatments are immensely valuable in the weeks, months, and years following inpatient treatment. Addiction batters the body as well as the mind, and in recovery, you have a wonderful opportunity to restore yourself to health and happiness. Kundalini yoga has a host of benefits for those in recovery, connecting body and mind, building strength, discipline, and will-power, and promoting spirituality. Mindfulness practice has been proven to have a plethora of benefits for your mental health and will help you rebuild connections with others that have become frayed or broken while you were addicted. Many other holistic treatments can help you on your journey through recovery, whether it’s art therapy for past trauma or nutrition therapy for rebuilding your body’s strength. At Iboga Tree Healing House we are committed to offering a wide range of holistic therapies to our clients!

Moving Forward Together

As the opioid epidemic rages on, we need to continue to refine and develop treatments that work in order to win the battle against addiction. Traditional treatment modalities have worked for millions, but they’ve also allowed millions of others to slip through the cracks. We have discovered promising new ways to treat this devastating and debilitating disease, and we should use them to free those trapped in addiction.

1st May 2020

COVID-19 and Addiction: Seeking Workable Solutions

The current model of addiction treatment works for some users who are desperate to change their lives. It also fails many of those most in need, for a variety of reasons. Whether the problems are a stubborn insistence on criminalizing drug use and prosecuting the unwell, profit-motivated providers promising the moon and delivering underwhelming treatments, or unscrupulous treatment centers exploiting their clients and playing a shell game with insurance companies, the rehab industry is plagued by a host of problems in countries around the globe. As the COVID-19 pandemic pushes health-care systems to the breaking point and exposes the addicted to horrifying risks, the time has finally come for societies to examine their current drug treatment models, and find solutions that work efficiently for those suffering from the affliction, and for health care systems groaning under the weight of the virus.

Reducing Harm

We are extremely proud to operate in Portugal, a nation with the wisdom and compassion to end the fruitless “war on drugs” and adopt a clear-eyed and compassionate approach to drug use. Portugal’s decision to wholeheartedly embrace the principles of harm reduction, decriminalize all personal drug use, and treat addicts as human beings suffering from a severe health disorder rather than dangerous criminals was certainly the right one, a fact that is continually reinforced as nations around the globe follow suit.

Harm Reduction has been proven not only to benefit addicts’ physical and mental health, and reduce the dangerous stigma surrounding addiction, but it also can save the public sector vast sums of money. By providing services such as needle exchanges and safe injection sites, governments can dramatically reduce the spread of disease and incidences of overdose, drastically reducing the financial burden which opioid and opiate use place on an overtaxed health-care sector. A refusal to embrace policies that save both taxpayer money and the lives of society’s most vulnerable members is both financially misguided and morally indefensible.

A Modern Understanding Of "Addiction"

The traditional narrative of addiction, where a weak person becomes enslaved by a “demon drug” has been eroded throughout the years as we gain more understanding of the psychological and neurological changes that occur within the addicted mind. The outdated notion of a thrill-seeking young person experimenting with a gateway drug and almost instantly getting hooked on heroin seems laughable now, but even as we've come to learn how deeply flawed this idea is, we are clinging to treatment modalities based on its cartoonishly simplified view of the affliction.

Thinkers like Gabor Mate, Johann Hari, and Maia Szalavitz have assembled vast quantities of research on what addiction is, and what it is not. They argue for a more complex method of treatment than traditional models such as the 12 Steps, or “cold turkey” would advocate, and for more research into treatments that are being neglected by the mainstream. The mechanisms of addiction are shaped by trauma and rooted in neurological processes that must be understood to be corrected. While there may be addicts out there who can (and do) turn their lives around through sheer force of will, the fact that a UN Report from 2019 estimated that the global total of deaths caused by drug use in 2017 was 585,000 is proof enough that much more needs to be done.

One of the most substantial hurdles that needs to be overcome is a prejudicial attitude towards alternative treatments and psychoactive substances that have shown immense promise in treating addiction. Iboga has shown a remarkable capacity for rewiring the addicted brain, correcting chemical and hormonal changes that create destructive patterns of behavior, and for allowing addicts to open their minds to the changes in attitude and lifestyle that they desperately need to make. Yet governments have been dragging their feet over pursuing the clinical trials that would clear it for therapeutic use in most countries.

Similar successes can be claimed by other medicinal plants that have been used since ancient times, including ayahuasca, a psychoactive plant from South America that D. Gabor Mate describes as “an antidote to Western psychological distress and alienation.” Psilocybin has also shown promise in treating addiction to nicotine and alcohol, as well as many of the underlying psychological issues that can lead to addiction. While research on the medicinal properties of these plants is slowly moving forward, any delays in the process will put the lives of habitual drug users at risk.

People Before Profits

The economic ramifications of COVID-19 are going to be absolutely massive, and restrictions on domestic and international travel are a massive hurdle for many treatment centers. While this will have a slew of negative consequences, it may also force many disreputable, fly-by-night providers into a new line of work. With horror stories emerging of American “piss farms” that exist solely to collect hefty payments from insurers, or “tough love” approaches taken around the world, where addicts in desperate need of treatment are belittled, mistreated, and forced to perform menial work, one consequence of COVID-19 might be a new focus on health which refuses to accept regressive, rapacious, and damaging methods of treatment. We at Iboga Tree Healing House have dedicated our lives to the cause of freeing individuals from addiction, and nothing offends us more deeply than treatment providers whose contempt for their patients manifests itself in substandard care.

We know firsthand how horrifying the effects of addiction can be. We also know that effective treatments, such as iboga, are out there, ready to be put to use to restore individuals to health, happiness, and their loved ones. We will be doing everything we can to push the cause of sane, safe, and compassionate treatment forward as COVID-19 rages around the globe, in the hopes that when the virus lets up, policy-makers are ready to prioritize the health-care needs of society’s most vulnerable citizens. If you’re interested in starting your fight against addiction today, get in touch with us!

18th September 2019 • Sticky Post

10 Ways to Overcome Addiction

It’s not easy to overcome addiction. For those afflicted, it can be almost impossible to visualize. At times it will seem incredibly difficult to accomplish. But you can do it. You probably became addicted because of pain or trauma. It may be that a chemical imbalance or genetic predisposition was a factor. You might have stumbled into dependence on powerful prescription painkillers. But in order to beat your addiction, one of the first steps you must take is coming to terms with its root causes.

Almost no one conquers addiction alone. The first step you should take is finding health-care professionals you trust, who take an approach that meets your individual needs. There isn’t one formula that works for everyone, and you’ll find a wide variety of approaches and strategies for creating and maintaining sobriety. Before choosing a treatment provider, you should determine what therapies and circumstances you think will work for you. With that in mind, let’s examine the steps on your path towards a healthy, addiction-free life.

1) Therapy and Counseling

Individual therapy is highly effective because it allows addicts to examine their unique traumas and triggers. The wonderful feature of group therapy is that it allows sharing and fellowship between recovering addicts who benefit greatly from friendship and support, and it lets participants share strategies and insights on their affliction. Most comprehensive treatment programs will offer patients a mixture of group and individual therapy, and both have been clinically proven to dramatically improve outcomes.

2) Support Groups

These programs are immensely valuable because they allow former addicts to guide those struggling with addiction through the recovery journey. They also allow those rebuilding their lives access to a wide network of peers who can offer support and friendship at a time when it might be unwise to spend time with problematic friends and family members. There’s no teacher like experience, and the advice of those who’ve gone through the harrowing experience of addiction and come out the other side is immeasurably useful. While the “Anonymous” family of groups put a religious slant on peer support, other options like SMART Recovery and Iboga Tree Healing House’s online aftercare program may fit better with your experiences and values.

3) Detox and Clinical Therapy

Detoxification can be a horrific ordeal with substances like opioids or heroin, but it doesn’t have to be. Finding the right treatment to get you through this phase of recovery can remove one of the biggest obstacles standing between your addicted self and a new life. Medical supervision and anti-craving drugs can help you through, getting all traces of methamphetamine, benzos, or whatever substance you’re dependent on out of your system, so you can focus on dealing with the behavioral and psychological aspects of rebuilding yourself.

4) Alternative Detox Options

A number of powerful psychedelic and entheogenic substances have shown immense promise in treating addiction and deserve to be considered by those entering treatment. Many addictions experts, like Dr. Gabor Mate, have embraced treatments which allow the addicted to explore the roots of trauma and learn to live with themselves. Iboga has been shown to offer the same benefits in terms of exploring past trauma, as well as re-wiring key neural functions to a pre-addicted state. Iboga has also been proven to dramatically reduce withdrawal symptoms for opiate and opioid addiction, and to reduce cravings for a period of approximately 6 months. Other psychoactive substances that have shown promise in treating addiction, including psilocybin and MDMA, have helped some addicts through their recovery, but at this stage, the evidence supporting their use is mostly anecdotal.

5) Dual Diagnosis

When patients have a condition that leads to or exacerbates addiction, such as a mental health disorder, addiction treatment becomes more complex. Not every treatment center is equipped to provide integrated treatment that addresses both afflictions at once. If you suffer from dual diagnosis, it’s imperative that you find treatment centers and professionals who are capable of providing simultaneous treatments for both of your disorders. Some treatments which may be effective for one of your conditions might worsen the other. You need to find responsible and experienced practitioners who can find the right treatment options for you.

6) Family Involvement

Addiction often has its roots in family dynamics. If your parents are alcoholics or addicts, you are far more likely than the average person to share their addiction. There is no consensus among treatment providers on how best to deal with familial issues. Some centers opt to seclude the addict to work on themselves without possibly toxic interactions. Others include the family, in order to correct the issues that could harm their loved one’s recovery while leveraging their love and support. We would recommend involving families in treatment, as studies have shown family support can predict positive outcomes, but some may benefit in their effort to overcome addiction without subjecting themselves to negative or toxic relatives.

7) Treatment Centers

Inpatient and outpatient treatments each come with a set of benefits and drawbacks, it’s up to you to determine which will give you the greatest chance to overcome addiction. Inpatient treatment offers supervised detox, and the opportunity to undergo an intensive program of individual and group therapy. It can also offer a luxury experience which allows the user to relax and recover in an idyllic setting. On the other hand, outpatient treatment can allow those in recovery to attend daily meetings and have their withdrawal and recovery monitored by a caregiver. Outpatient treatment allows recovering addicts to receive therapy without putting their lives on hold for 30-90 days and lets them adjust to their sober lives incrementally.

8) Aftercare

Aftercare is an essential component of any effort to overcome addiction. When you finish treatment, your recovery journey has just begun. It’s time to develop strategies for fighting off craving and dealing with triggers. Peer support groups are highly recommended, as are holistic therapies such as mindfulness training, yoga, and breathwork. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a treatment that has helped many addicts break free from negative automatic thinking and deal with their cravings in a positive manner.

Another essential component of aftercare is building the foundation for a healthy life. It can be helpful to start by outlining your value system, with a focus on honesty, trust, and forgiveness. Addiction has taken you far away from your best self, and outlining and committing to values you may have abandoned will help you rebuild connections with your community, your family, and yourself. It can also be very helpful to build a reward system for accomplishing goals both large and small. You have the opportunity to enjoy a world of things and places at this stage of recovery, and rewarding yourself with something as small as an ice cream or as big as an international vacation can return positive motivation to your life.

9) Connecting

Virtually nobody can overcome addiction alone. One of the most beautiful parts of the recovery journey is finding support from the people around you as you reclaim your life. As we’ve already mentioned, peer-based support groups and re-building family connections can greatly improve your chances for success. As you go through treatment, remember that the therapists, peers, psychologists, sponsors, and caretakers you encounter are an invaluable resource. Take advantage of their experience, and the love and support offered by family members and true friends. And before you choose a treatment provider, make sure that they can offer you the resources you’ll need after discharge!

10) Set Your Goals

It’s easy to say you’re ready to overcome addiction, but triumphing over it is the work of a lifetime. And the decision to break free is yours and yours alone. It begins with admitting to yourself that a substance or behavior has taken over your life and that it’s time to regain control. It’s helpful to start by reflecting honestly on all the harmful effects your addiction has had on you and your loved ones. Think about all of the changes addiction has made in you, and reflect on the person you were, the person you’ve become, and the person you’d like to be in the future. It won’t be easy to become that person, but at Iboga Tree Healing House we have seen our clients emerge from the wreckage of addiction and build happy and productive lives. If you’re ready, contact us today!

1st May 2019

5 things to consider before choosing an iboga treatment programme

So you’ve decided to end the waking nightmare of living with addiction. You’ve made a wise choice. You’ve also decided to consider Iboga, a powerful tool to help deal with withdrawals and cravings, which has the added benefit of restoring receptors in the brain to a pre-addicted state. You’re determined to use Iboga to heal yourself, but which iboga treatment program should you choose from the myriad options that are out there?

Let’s explore five key factors that must be considered to select the iboga treatment programme that’s right for you.

1) Your Safety is Paramount

You shouldn’t delude yourself into thinking that Iboga treatment is risk-free. As Clare Wilkins, co-author of the Clinical Guidelines for Ibogaine Assisted Detox notes, asking if Iboga is safe is “like asking if electricity is safe... You can cook a warm meal, light up a room, or electrocute someone with electricity, as they say. It’s similar with iboga. Iboga, in and of itself, is not unsafe. There are both risks and benefits.”

The risks of Iboga treatment include bradycardia (slowing of the heart), liver problems, seizures, and lethal interactions with other substances. We would strongly recommend that anyone seeking the treatment thoroughly research all of the health risks associated with Iboga use, to make an informed decision on whether it’s right for them.

When selecting a treatment option, we urge everyone to choose a center that offers a high degree of medical supervision. At Iboga Tree Healing House we have a medical doctor in-house, rather than on-call or at a nearby hospital. We have a nursing team that is based on a 1:1 nurse per patient ratio. We insist on taking a full medical history prior to treatment, as well as a full set of lab results including a full blood panel, liver function analysis, ECG/EKG and more. We also monitor our patients with an EKG machine during treatment. Furthermore, every member of our medical team is ACLS certified by the American Heart Association.

We feel that Iboga use can be made as safe as possible only under these conditions, and the safety of our clients is our first priority.

2) Legal Issues

While Iboga has powerful medicinal properties, it is still illegal in a number of countries. Why? Presumably because of the risks associated with its use, and its psychedelic properties. We do not recommend using Iboga in a country where its use is illegal, because it will be difficult to obtain proper medical supervision, and because of the risk of arrest and jail time when you are at your most vulnerable. Iboga use is completely illegal in the USA, France, Denmark, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and the UK. Its legal status is also murky at best in Canada, Israel and Australia. If you’re most comfortable seeking treatment in a “First World” country, international drug policy thought leader Portugal is one of the better options on offer. To date, while iboga is not yet an “approved” therapy for problem alcohol or drug use in Portugal, the fact that it is not the subject of any regulation and is not illegal in Portugal means that it can be administered legally and under the safest possible conditions there. Iboga's status as an experimental natural herbal product in Portugal has opened the door for the forward-thinking country to once again lead the way in maximising iboga’s addiction treatment potential.

3) Location, location, location

While Iboga is a powerful tool for breaking the cycle of addiction, it isn’t a miracle drug which will immediately make the addict whole again. In choosing a treatment center, you should consider what types of support, counseling, and therapy will help you make the transition to a healthy, happy life. If a facility claims that Iboga is all you need, you should be extremely skeptical. At Iboga Tree Healing House we insist upon a course of pre-treatment counseling, which is vital for preparing to manage the details of life after you leave. We also offer a wide range of holistic treatments, which are essential for rebuilding positive patterns of thought and behavior.

Different people have different needs in treatment, so look for a treatment center that will cater to yours. Is the setting comfortable and safe? Do the ancillary treatment options sound like they’ll work for you? Does the center have a history of providing adequate aftercare, and a proven track record for safety? Take the time to find answers to these questions. They can be the difference between life and death.

4) Value

Hopefully, you’ve already realized that the cheapest options available might not be right for you. You’ll probably need to travel to another country to use Iboga legally. Once again, we cannot stress enough that the cost of guaranteeing adequate medical supervision is essential for your health and safety. While treatment may seem expensive, addiction is incredibly costly for you and your family, and spending a little more to ensure a successful outcome will pay off immeasurably in the future.

At Iboga Tree Healing House, we strive to keep your costs low, but we know that cheaper treatment options do exist. We spend a large part of our revenues on a full team of medical and therapy professionals who are deeply committed to your safety and well-being. We are convinced that it would be irresponsible to do otherwise, and we recommend that when choosing a treatment center, you make sure they do not cut corners in these essential areas. Saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars by getting inadequate treatment in an unsafe setting will almost certainly end up costing you more.

5) Aftercare Options

If you’re reading this, you’re probably yearning to break free from years of negativity and pain. While Iboga is great at freeing you from withdrawals and cravings, it cannot teach you how to live a positive and productive life. Because addiction is so often linked to depression, trauma, and a host of other mental health issues, you should be looking for a course of treatment that offers you tools for personal growth and empowerment, not just detox.

A robust after-care plan should give you tools for building positive patterns of thought, trust, and self-love. It should also teach you how to deal with the stresses of your new life in a positive fashion. At Iboga Tree Healing House we feel that our range of Holistic treatments (including Kundalini Yoga, Equine Assisted therapy, breathwork, meditation, EFT - Emotional Freedom Techniques, acupuncture, massage and more) are extremely helpful in preparing our clients to live happy and healthy lives. In addition to this, we offer all of our former clients free weekly supportive Skype sessions for the rest of their lives Through self-supporting 'fellowship' is known as the IRM - Ibogaine Recovery Movement. we know (and the data has shown) that those who regularly attend meetings such as this fare far better than those who don't.

Make the Smart Choice

We’d be delighted if you chose us to help you start anew. But we also know that different people have different needs, and our program isn’t for everyone. What’s most important is finding a treatment center that is professional and safe, and gives you the tools you need to thrive in your new life. Good luck, and Godspeed!