Abstract: Special Operations Forces veterans with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) who were treated with ibogaine, a plant-based psychoactive substance, experienced improved symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety immediately after receiving the drug and at 1 month after treatment, a recent observational study found. The results might be the first evidence that a single treatment with ibogaine can improve chronic disability from TBIs after combat and exposure to blasts, the researchers reported in Nature Medicine. The researchers based their findings on data from 30 males with a history of TBI who independently sought ibogaine treatment—classified as a Schedule I drug in the US—at a facility in Mexico. The providers at the facility administered ibogaine alongside magnesium because the drug has been previously linked with fatal cardiac arrhythmias. None of the men experienced serious adverse events. The findings “raise the possibility that this therapy may be beneficial in other populations suffering from sequelae of repeated head trauma,” the researchers wrote. Controlled clinical trials will be needed to validate the findings, they added.