How Do Psychedelics Treat PTSD? - Dr Martin Polanco & Michael Higgs

Martin Polanco is Founder of The Mission Within and a Veteran Mental Health Advocate and Michael Higgs was Command Master Chief of a Navy SEAL team and is Director of Operations at The Mission Within. For a very long time, once soldiers have finished in war, their battles have often continued back home. Both active and retired veterans suffer with childhood traumas, life traumas, divorces, opioid addiction, family issues, Traumatic Brain Injuries, deaths of team members, chronic pain injuries and long term inflammation. Martin and Michael believe that psychedelics are an important potential solution to give suffering veterans another shot at a functional life. Expect to learn how iboga rewires the brain in 12 hours, why Michael held a gun to his head after being out of the seals for two years, the insane pressure placed on Special Forces operators by themselves, what happened when Michael ate 20g of mushrooms on a Native Indian reservation, how to sign up to Martin's current studies which he needs volunteers for and much more... #ptsd #psychedelics #specialforces - 00:00 Intro 04:05 Dealing with Trauma in the Armed Forces 11:18 Martin’s Journey with Psychedelics 18:00 Commonalities of Veterans with PTSD 24:57 Taking Psychedelics for the First Time 33:42 How the Brain Restructures PTSD 43:55 Current Accessibility of Psychedelics 48:30 Side Effects of Psychedelics 52:33 Advice to Suffering Veterans 57:20 Where to Find Michael & Dr Polanco - Join the Modern Wisdom Community on Locals - https://modernwisdom.locals.com/ Listen to all episodes on audio: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Michael HiggsguestChris WilliamsonhostDr. Martin Polancoguest

Jul 1, 202258mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Psychedelics Help Special Forces Veterans Confront Trauma, Heal Brain Injuries

Former Navy SEAL ‘Punky’ and physician Dr. Martin Polanco discuss using psychedelics—primarily ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT—to treat PTSD, traumatic brain injury (TBI), addiction, and suicidality in special operations veterans. Punky recounts decades of cumulative trauma, emotional suppression, heavy medication use, and eventual suicidal crisis that led him to Dr. Polanco’s program, The Mission Within. They explain how psychedelics, in a carefully prepared and supported setting, can surface buried trauma, reduce brain inflammation, promote neurogenesis, and catalyze deep psychological and spiritual shifts. Both emphasize that the medicines are catalysts, not cures; sustained healing depends on integration work, lifestyle changes, and community support.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Special operations culture discourages seeking help, worsening hidden injuries.

Operators avoid medical and psychological care to stay deployable and protect their reputation, leading to masked physical pain, unmanaged brain injuries, and untreated mental health issues that can culminate in breakdowns and suicidality.

Many veterans’ core injury is mild traumatic brain injury, not just PTSD.

Repeated blast exposure, heavy weapons use, and overpressure create chronic brain inflammation and hormone dysregulation that present as anger, insomnia, depression, and anxiety—often mismanaged with alcohol and multiple psychotropic medications.

Ibogaine enables ‘shadow work’ by revisiting life events without retraumatization.

Ibogaine affects dozens of neuroreceptors, promotes neurogenesis, and facilitates emotionally detached review of childhood and combat experiences, allowing veterans to see others’ perspectives, contextualize trauma, and move toward forgiveness and self-understanding.

5-MeO-DMT adds powerful emotional release and mystical reconnection.

Following ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT can trigger intense emotional catharsis, ego dissolution, and experiences of unity or “God,” while also reducing brain inflammation; together, the two medicines synergize physiological repair and profound psychological/spiritual reset.

Preparation and integration are more important than the trip itself.

Coaching before treatment (intentions, expectations, safety) and ongoing integration afterward (therapy, coaching, sleep, diet, mindfulness, community) determine whether the benefits last; the psychedelic event is framed as ~30% of the healing, integration ~70%.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

We were all terrified. I was never terrified overseas, but what we were terrified of was ourselves—what the medicine’s going to show us.

— Michael “Punky” Higgs

There’s nothing in Western medicine that with one single treatment can take you and give you that perspective.

— Dr. Martin Polanco (on ibogaine and addiction/PTSD)

We don’t know shit about each other because everyone keeps up the veil… there’s still a degree of separation between the true you and the face that you’re putting out.

— Michael “Punky” Higgs

I got to basically relive my entire life over again without the emotion attached to it.

— Michael “Punky” Higgs (on his ibogaine journey)

The experience itself might be 30% of the healing, but the integration of the experience is 70%.

— Dr. Martin Polanco

Culture of emotional suppression and injury underreporting in special operations forcesCumulative impact of trauma, moral injury, and blast-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)Mechanisms and effects of ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT on PTSD, addiction, and brain healthDesign and process of The Mission Within psychedelic treatment programThe role of preparation, coaching, and integration after psychedelic experiencesLegal and ethical landscape of psychedelic therapies in the U.S. and abroadBroader applications of psychedelics and alternative modalities for non-veterans

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