- Home
- Ibogaine Treatment
- Mental Health Issues
- Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders
If your relationship with food, control, and self-worth have become tangled up, you already know this is not about vanity or willpower. Behaviours such as food restriction, bingeing, purging, rigid routines, and compulsive exercise can become survival strategies that your nervous system repeats, even when you hate the consequences.
At Tabula Rasa Retreat, we offer medically supervised ibogaine treatment for eating disorders at our treatment centre in Portugal, supported by trauma-informed care and a holistic approach.
Why Eating Disorders Can Seem Like Behavioural Addiction
Although they exist in the sphere of mental health issues, a more holistic approach often places eating disorders within the wider landscape of trauma. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are rarely separable from trauma, and the behaviours can reflect a deeply human attempt to regain control when life has felt unsafe or overwhelming.
A broader understanding of addiction is that these patterns (or coping mechanisms) are shaped early. As the nervous system adapts to stress, the brain learns specific routes to relief, wiring desire and reward around whatever reliably quiets discomfort in the moment.
From this perspective, an eating disorder is not “about food” so much as it is about regulation. Food, restriction, bingeing, purging, or rigid routines can become a way to access comfort, numbness, or escape from inner pain, through mental and emotional processes that are closely aligned with other forms of addiction.
How Ibogaine Treatment for Eating Disorders Can Support Eating Disorder Recovery
Ibogaine is known for its capacity to interrupt compulsive patterns and open a deeply introspective, dream-like state. In this space, memories and events held in the subconscious can become accessible, and re-experienced with support, within the contained setting of psychedelic therapy.
At Tabula Rasa Retreat, we understand trauma as more than “what happened to you”. We also look at what you had to make it mean about yourself, and whether you had a safe environment to process the event’s emotional, psychological, and somatic impact. When that support is missing, repression can become a survival strategy.
In our experience, many self-soothing and compulsive behaviours are not random. They often point to an older story of self-abandonment, where certain needs, feelings, or parts of the self were pushed down to preserve safety, attachment, and belonging in childhood or adolescence.
For eating disorder recovery, our work typically lands in three overlapping areas:
- Memory Retrieval and Addiction Interruption: Ibogaine helps bring long-buried memories into awareness, clarifying when patterns like anorexia, bulimia, or purging began and what was happening in a person’s life at the time. It also influences neurotransmitter systems linked to mood, stress reactivity, and reinforcement, which can help loosen automatic urges and interrupt reward-driven loops.
- Trauma, shame, and self-protection: eating disorders commonly co-exist with trauma symptoms. Trauma-informed care and our holistic approach are the container that helps insights become integration, rather than overwhelm.
- A reset window for new habits: many people describe a period after treatment where change feels more possible. Ibogaine in and of itself is not a cure, but it can reveal where and what work needs to be done. That reset window still needs structure, routines, and ibogaine aftercare to turn insight into lasting change.
Who We Can Potentially Support
You may be exploring Ibogaine treatment for eating disorders if your primary struggle is:
- Binge Eating Disorder or compulsive overeating
- Bulimia Nervosa, including cycles of bingeing and purging
- Anorexia Nervosa, where restriction and control have taken over your life
Some people also come with a dual diagnosis or co-occurring substance use, anxiety, depression, or PTSD. When you fill out our application form, this will help us understand your needs with precision.
Safety First: Ibogaine Safety Medical Screening and Supervision Is Essential
Eating disorders can affect hydration, electrolytes, and cardiac rhythm. Ibogaine also has known cardiac considerations, which is why we insist on robust screening and continuous monitoring during treatment.
Our medical and nursing team monitor you throughout treatment and during the immediate recovery period. The team is ACLS-trained (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), and we have clear emergency protocols in place to keep you safe.
Before applying, review Ibogaine Safety and our Inclusion And Exclusion Criteria. If you are medically fragile, we may recommend stabilisation first. The goal is always the safest, most appropriate next step.
What Treatment Looks Like Here
Your stay is designed to be medically rigorous and emotionally supportive:
- Medical intake, preparation, and clear expectations
- Medically Supervised Ibogaine with 24/7 monitoring
- A low-stimulation environment for rest and introspection
- Holistic support such as breathwork/bodywork, meditation, and grounding routines
- Integration support and ongoing therapy/counselling to translate insights into an actionable plan
Ibogaine can open the door, but staying on the new path requires support once you go home. We coach you in various holistic practices that help you manage triggers, establish new routines, and nervous system regulation, and we can point you towards ongoing therapeutic support.
If you are not ready to apply yet, feel free to do some more research across our website, or have a look at our PDF about Eating Disorders in our resources page. Remember: you don’t have to face this alone.
