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NEWS & RESEARCH

The Mission Within is committed to providing proven research into the effectiveness of psychedelic therapies not just to treat, but to heal veterans, their families and others suffering from PTSD, Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries, (mTBI), Depression and Anxiety.

In collaboration with Heroic Heart Project, The Mission Within will be the first program will be the site for at UT-Austin clinical study that will assess the efficacy of two psychedelics — psilocybin mushrooms and 5-MeO-DMT — on spouses of dead U.S. service members or veterans who meet the diagnostic criteria of prolonged grief. The study will involve two sets of 15 participants; one will be treated with 5-MeO-DMT and one with psilocybin.

Additional studies that are being planned are an ibogaine brain imaging study as well as one looking at the effectiveness of ayahuasca for PTSD in combat veterans.

NEWS

Tribeca Film About Ibogaine: A Revolutionary Treatment For Addiction And PTSD?

Imagine having a chronic condition with debilitating symptoms that modern medicine cannot relieve. Sweats, chills, bodyaches, physical and emotional pain, intense cravings, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts. Now imagine one day you discovered a treatment that would take away your pain and suffering but you can’t get it.
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"I Want to Reset My Brain": Female Veterans Turn to Psychedelic Therapy

Traumatized by war and sexual assaults, some U.S. veterans and veterans' spouses are seeking help in a Mexican clinic that treats depression and addiction with potent hallucinogens like toad poison.
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The Testimonies Speak for Themselves: Psychedelics Save Lives!!

That moment was the turning point that jump-started my bipartisan bill for more research into lifesaving psychedelic therapies for active-duty service members. It’s unconventional, but it works. The testimonies speak for themselves.
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Minneapolis Mayor Loosens Enforcements of Psychedelics

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis issued an executive order on Friday instructing the city's police officers to, in essence, look the other way when it comes to the purchase and use of certain illegal psychedelic drugs.
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Bobby Laughlin Speaks in Kentucky

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The Pied Piper of Psychedelic Toads

Octavio Rettig, an underground practitioner of 5-MeO-DMT, a hallucinogenic substance derived from Sonoran Desert toads, claims that he has revived a lost Mesoamerican ritual.
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We’re on the cusp of another psychedelic era. But this time Washington is along for the ride

There’s a new cause in Washington that’s uniting Republicans, Democrats and Biden health officials: psychedelics as a cure for America’s mental health crisis. “The results that are coming out are just groundbreaking — earth-shattering,” said Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas), a former Navy SEAL who credits therapy and two psychedelics, ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT, with helping him overcome the trauma he suffered after his Black Hawk helicopter went down during a 2009 training mission. “D.C. actually is getting their head around it.”
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Pa. veterans will help study psychedelic drugs to treat trauma, prevent suicide

A movement led by military veterans has embraced using psychedelic medications to treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression, citing an urgent need to make them widely available in Pennsylvania.
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Team Never Quit Podcast

DR. MARTÍN POLANCO AND MARINE RYAN ROBERTS

A Discussion on the Clinical Psychedelic Retreat Being Used to Treat Veterans and their Family Members
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Healing Traumatic Brain Injuries with Psychedelics

Traumatic brain injury is a silent epidemic among athletes, veterans and millions of others worldwide. Here’s how psychedelics might help.
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Inside Ibogaine, One of the Most Promising and Perilous Psychedelics for Addiction

Amber Capone had become afraid of her husband. The “laid-back, bigger than life and cooler than cool” man she’d married had become isolated, disconnected and despondent during his 13 years as a U.S. Navy SEAL. Typically, he was gone 300 days of the year, but when he was home, Amber and their two children walked on eggshells around him. “Everyone was just playing nice until he left again,” Amber says.
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I Want to Reset My Brain’: Female Veterans Turn to Psychedelic Therapy

Traumatized by war and sexual assaults, some U.S. veterans and veterans’ spouses are seeking help in a Mexican clinic that treats depression and addiction with potent hallucinogens like toad poison.
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Mindstate Podcast

Michael Higgs - Retired Navy Seal on his work with Mission Within providing psychedelic treatment using Ibogaine and 5-meo-dm.
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Everyday Warrior Podcast

In our seventh episode, we talked to Dr. Martin Polanco and Dr. Kirk Parsley, who are leading the way in psychedelic research and therapy, and are changing people’s lives for the better, breaking down preconceived ideas about psychedelic therapy and its use in modern medicine.
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Michael Higgs

Michael Higgs is a former Navy Seal operator who has been on his healing path principally with 5Meo DMT as well as Iboga/Ibogaine. He is currently a facilitator at the healing center “The Mission Within”. They are a therapeutic facility, taking on a 60/40 split of vets to civilians for healing. We dive into Michael’s origin story as well as his work with the medicines.
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Dr. Martin Polanco, Founder of The Mission Within & Michael Higgs, Veteran, SEAL Master

This episode concentrates on the rise of psychedelic therapy. Dr. Martin Polanco and Michael Higgs are leading the way in psychedelic research and therapy, and are changing people's lives for the better.
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Center to Study Psychedelics for Treatment of Depression, Anxiety, PTSD Launches at UT Austin’s Dell Med

Research to Focus on Veterans, Adults Affected by Early Childhood Trauma
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The Pied Piper of Psychedelic Toads

Octavio Rettig, an underground practitioner of 5-MeO-DMT, a hallucinogenic substance derived from Sonoran Desert toads, claims that he has revived a lost Mesoamerican ritual.
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Austin Texas Has The Potential To Become A Hotbed For Psychedelic Research

Austin’s irreverence for convention is setting the stage for it to become a mecca for psychedelics. The free-spirited business leaders in the rapidly growing capital of Texas are wholeheartedly embracing opportunities for psychedelic research and therapy.
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Opinion: I was traumatized by my time in Afghanistan and Iraq. Psychedelic therapy changed my life.

It’s time for California to decriminalize psychedelics and allow for life-saving psychedelic therapies.
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Conservative Texas Leans Into Psychedelic Research

On December 16, 2021, researchers at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin launched the Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy. The Texas center joins other similar centers in the U.S. in California and Baltimore, and a growing list of over 100 colleges and universities in the U.S. alone who have partnered with for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to study psychedelic medicine.
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Texas Further Embraces Psychedelics With Launch Of Center For Psychedelic Research And Therapy

Research will focus on how various psychedelics can be used under proper supervision and guidance to treat severe depression, anxiety and PTSD.
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RESEARCH

Open-label study of consecutive ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT assisted-therapy for trauma-exposed male Special Operations Forces Veterans: prospective data from a clinical program in Mexico

Research in psychedelic medicine has focused primarily on civilian populations. Further study is needed to understand whether these treatments are effective for Veteran populations. Here, we examine the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapy among trauma-exposed Special Operations Forces Veterans (SOFV) seeking treatment for cognitive and mental health problems in Mexico.
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Predictors of psychedelic treatment outcomes among special operations forces veterans.

A Prior study demonstrated that psychedelic-assisted therapy was related to reductions in mental health symptoms and associated consequences among U.S. Special Operations Forces Veterans seeking treatment in Mexico. The present study extends this analysis to explore the prospective associations of baseline predictors on treatment outcomes and whether changes in psychological flexibility mediate the relationship between acute changes in consciousness and clinical outcomes.
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Can psychedelics combat prolonged grief? Dell Medical School launches study to find out.

Researchers at The Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy at Dell Medical School at UT Austin will use brain scans to see how people respond to psychedelics to treat prolonged grief.
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Psychedelic Treatment for Trauma-Related Psychological and Cognitive Impairment Among US Special Operations Forces Veterans - Journal of Chronic Stress 2020

Davis et al. (2020) published retrospective outcomes on 65 Special Operations Forces Veterans which demonstrated “significant and very large reductions in the retrospective report of suicidal ideation, cognitive impairment, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Most participants rated the psychedelic experiences as one of the top five personally meaningful (84%), spiritually significant (88%), and psychologically insightful (86%) experiences of their lives.
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Psychedelic Treatment for Co-Occurring Alcohol Misuse and Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms among United States Special Operations Forces Veterans - Journal of Psychedelic Studies 2021

Mangini 2021 published in a group of 65 Special Operations Forces Veterans, 27 vets reported alcohol misuse. Post-treatment there were significant reductions in reports of alcohol use and posttraumatic stress symptoms. In the 30 days, posttreatment 85% of veterans reduced their alcohol consumption to non-risky levels.
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A Case Report SPECT Study and Theoretical Rationale for the Sequential Administration of Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT in the treatment of alcohol use disorder - Progress in Brain Research - 2018

Barsuglia et al. (2018) published the first-ever neuroimaging study of before and after treatment with ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT in a veteran dealing with alcohol use disorder. Demonstrated early signal of brain regions impacted by ibogaine.
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Intensity of Mystical Experiences Occasioned by 5-MeO-DMT and Comparison with Prior Psilocybin Study- Frontiers in Psychology - 2018

Barsuglia et al. (2018) published first observational data on 5-MeO-DMT in contrast to prior psilocybin metrics of mystical experience, which is one of the core predictors of efficacy in psychedelic therapy research.
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The Mission Within is a clinical psychedelic retreat providing specialized treatments for PTSD, mTBI, depression, and anxiety helping participants breakthrough past trauma to become their best selves.