A retrospective survey reported very large symptom drops in Special Operations veterans after ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT
A 2020 survey asked Special Operations veterans to report their mental health before and after an ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT treatment program abroad.
This retrospective survey asked 51 male Special Operations veterans to rate their mental health for the 30 days before and the 30 days after they completed an ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT treatment program in Mexico. They reported very large reductions in suicidal thoughts, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and cognitive problems. But because the ratings were recalled after treatment, with no comparison group, the size of the change is likely overstated — memory of 'before' can shift once people feel better. The authors call for controlled studies.
This retrospective survey collected data from 51 of 65 U.S. Special Operations Forces veterans who completed an ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT program in Mexico (2017-2019), rating mental health and cognition for the 30 days before and after treatment. Respondents reported very large reductions in suicidal ideation (d=-1.9), cognitive impairment (d=-2.8), PTSD (d=-3.6), depression (d=-3.7), and anxiety (d=-3.1).
The effect sizes are extreme (d around -3), which is itself a warning sign: retrospective before/after ratings collected at a single post-treatment timepoint are highly vulnerable to recall bias, response expectancy, and self-selection, all of which inflate apparent change. There is no control group, no blinding, and no independent measurement. The sample is exclusively male Special Operations veterans who sought treatment abroad. The authors explicitly state controlled studies are needed.
A later prospective study of a similar Special Operations ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT program - using pre-treatment baselines rather than retrospective recall - found much more modest effect sizes (d around 0.3-0.4) at one month (Davis et al., 2023). The contrast is instructive: the retrospective design here likely overstates the benefit. A magnesium-ibogaine study in Special Operations veterans similarly calls for controlled trials (Cherian et al., 2024).
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