Hi, I just read this on Erowid.org: "Individuals in the midst of emotional or psychological upheaval, or with a history of psychological illness, should use extreme caution in taking ibogaine or any other powerful psychedelic."

I don't directly think this is a problem, I mean Social Anxiety is not unusual and everyone has it sometimes.. It's just that I have a it in a lot more situations then the average person. I have it in almost every social situation.

In the past this (the uncomfortableness) has led to bad trips with shrooms (2 out of the 4 trips I had). So now I'm thinking, if I'd enter an Ibogaine trip with the mood that in the past caused my shroom badtrips.. could this be a problem? I suspect it won't, but I'm asking because I don't know.

The nature of a social anxiety disorder isn't anything like schizophrenia or other serious disorders. You could see it more like an out of proportion grown shyness. A person with a social anxiety disorder has thoughts like people are thinking this and that about me (negative judgments), but logically he has no problem comprehending that those thoughts are unlikely to be true, it's just that they feel true because the fear has it's roots in the subconcious.

Ibogaine is something that I hope to have the chance to do one day. With that being said a heavy ibogaine experience to me is a once a life thing probably....

I don't have first hand knowledge, but from what I suspect if you are going to do a decent dose by self administering have your ducks in a row. It is used to treat serious addictions but that is in a clinical setting... This is one to be very careful with it is possible to OD and it is a multi day ride with subsequent days before your 100%...

I would travel when you are more experienced in the psychedelic realms and have a handle on your issue.

Some forum members actually recomended iboga for the treatgment of my social anxiety. The way i look at fear and other negative thoughts is...that you are somehow addicted to them, if you can't shake them. And Iboga seems to help nicely witrh addictions.

Hi obliguhl, that's exactly how I got interested in Iboga. I found your thread about social anxiety with a Google search and then noticed the Iboga recommendation. Anyway, I guess it's not something to really worry about. The feedback I've gotten so far, from here and elsewhere suggest that it won't be much of a problem.

How are you doing by the way, did you try Iboga? I think I remember you writing something about cacti in another thread and how it made you attract people. Can't do cacti all the time of course, but it seems like a fun experience. I had this once with XTC, all the girls were checking me out cause my eyes were radiating beautifully. I don't do XTC anymore though, last time I did it felt like self-medicating/junkie behavior, and that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Havn't tried Iboga, mostly because i think that i'm not done with other entheogens yet. The thing with cactus is, that even a very tiny dose of resin, one you can barely feel at all, can make a difference in your day. It doesn't totally take the anxiety away, but it relaxes you socially so you don't have to be akward around people. A bigger dose can also have a longer lasting effect on you. I think its all about re-training a more positive emotional behaviour :If you learn to associate joy with human contact, you are more likely to actually push yourselve towards it. That's at least my theory.

What do you mean with done? And what's the journey you've been on? Just curious...

I don't have a lot of patience. I want to get over it, NOW. I started a business a few years ago to gain financial freedom.
Now I have that, but I find that financial freedom is not so easy to enjoy without social freedom, I do enjoy for example a vacation but
it would be way more enjoyable with social freedom.. So that's my only goal now.

About re-training a more positive emotional behavior, what exactly does that mean to you? I mean in practice.. what does that look like to you?

And about cacti, how do you use it? Do you use it on a regular basis to be more effective in social situations like you described (with small doses)?
And have you found cacti and other entheogens helpful when it comes to moving towards social freedom?

Based on personal experience, I think that Iboga(ine) could be a great ally in the treatment of social anxiety. Also the Iboga experience is one that is more emotionally detached than that experienced with other psychedelics. A flood dose Iboga session gives you a MUCH longer afterglow than caapi alone, and this can be extended and augmented via small top up doses taken occasionally. I think it could be an important ally in the treatment of a range of other conditions such as various anxieties and neuroses, OCD and PTSD. However I think starting off with small doses to get a feel for the plant is definitely a good idea.