Nexus - 0405 - New Times Magazine-pages

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AUTONOMIC RESPONSES During the first through the fifth hour of ibogaine treatment there is a moderate rise in the patient's blood pressure of 10 to 15 per cent and, in some cases, an associated decline in the pulse rate. The most significant autonomic changes occur between 1% and 2% hours after administration of therapeutic doses of ibogaine. In many cases, the patient's pulse rate is elevated due to anxiety prior to the administration of ibogaine. abruptly after a three-to-five-hour period. However, individual reactions and variations are the norm and not the exception within the parameters of the procedure. As for the patient's own process of evaluation, when the patient made various decisions in the past, those decisions appeared to be the only options available at the time. However, with ibogaine's effect of allowing the re-evaluation of life, actions and behaviour, the patient can come to understand that alternatives to those origi- nal decisions were in fact available at the time. This knowledge appears to enable the patient to modify his/her current behaviour and cease dependence on drugs. RRA TR nee eee te eee tee cee cee Rete knee ate rw THE VISUALISATION PHASE 0 enable the patient to modify his/her current behaviour One of ibogaine's principal effects during its first phase of and cease dependence on drugs. action is to produce a state which emulates dreaming, although the subject is fully awake and has the ability to respond to the | BEHAVIOURAL IMMOBILITY DURING TREATMENT treatment staff's questions. During the periods of visualisation, and extending into the stage In most cases, people under the influence of a therapeutic dose of cognitive evaluation, patients will demonstrate a state of behav- of ibogaine do not wish to speak. They prefer instead to pay close ioural immobility (Depoortere, 1987) during which brainwave attention to the visual presentation of patterns associated with dreaming and memories or phenomena they are sleep, but distinct from those states, experiencing—visuals that have been are represented by rhythmic, slow noted to have both Freudian and The acute interruption of the activity of 4-6 Hz. These EEG pat- Jungian connotations. terns are associated with a state char- The experiencing of visual material craving to seek and use drugs of acterised by a lack of movement. is rapid. Some patients have abuse is unique to the Lotsof Some early observers of the Lotsof described it as a movie run at high Procedure (Kaplan, 1990) initially speed; others as a slide show, each Procedure as a treatment modality believed that the condition represent- side containing a motion icture ne for chemical dependence cat Paralysis but when patients were specific event or circumstance in the F asked to stand and move around, the viewer's life. In either case, the pre- disorders. patients were able to do so, albeit sentation of visual material is so com- with some degree of difficulty. pressed and fast-moving that distrac- tion of the patient for even a moment INTERRUPTION OF CRAVING may interfere with the process of abre- The acute interruption of the crav- action. Therefore, medical staff intrusion should be kept to a min- ing to seek and use drugs of abuse is unique to the Lotsof imum during the ibogaine treatment's primary phase. Procedure as a treatment modality for chemical dependence disor- ders. This effect is generally not noticed by the patient until ibo- COGNITIVE EVALUATION gaine's principal actions (visualisation, cognitive evaluation, Following the visualisation stage, the second phase of ibo- behavioural immobility and significant residual stimulation) are gaine's action during the Lotsof Procedure is one of the patient's no longer evident and the patient has had the opportunity to sleep. intellectual evaluation of previous experiences and decisions. The initial recognition of lack of craving is usually noticed 48 This occurs after the visualisation phase, which generally ends to 72 hours after ibogaine administration. In a minority of treat- ments, recovery and absence of craving may be evident to the person being treated in as little as 24 hours. Medical staff, on the other hand, usually notes the absence of craving in the patient in 45 minutes to @) 1% hours after ibogaine administration. According to NDA International (the medical development company set up by N Howard Lotsof to supervise experimental \ therapy according to the Lotsof Procedure), its experience gained in recent years with the treatment of 20 persons out- side the US has shown that the majority of patients may need a series of treatments N before they can extinguish their condi- tioned responses (cravings) to a long his- H tory of chemical dependence. However, three of these patients only required a sin- gle treatment to interrupt their chemical dependence for a minimum of two years. Molecular structure of ibogaine One advantage of ibogaine is that it allows the patient time-periods free of craving. It is during those times that the for chemical dependence disorders. COGNITIVE EVALUATION Following the visualisation stage, the second phase of ibo- gaine's action during the Lotsof Procedure is one of the patient's intellectual evaluation of previous experiences and decisions. This occurs after the visualisation phase, which generally ends 32 ¢ NEXUS Molecular structure of ibogaine AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1997