Mind and body · Body dysmorphia
What many guests describe after the retreat is a little distance from the mirror, and room to see themselves as more than one feature. Since 2012 we have held a medically supervised iboga retreat on the Mayan Riviera near Cancun, Mexico, where a traditional Missoko Bwiti ceremony is paired with therapy and three months of follow-up at home. It is a complement to therapy for body dysmorphia, never a replacement. If you have spent years checking, comparing or hiding, you are not alone.
If you are thinking about ending your life, please reach out today: call or text 988 in the United States or Canada. In the US you can also chat at chat.988lifeline.org. You deserve help now, not after a retreat.
Free guide · PDF
More Than the Mirror
Body dysmorphia: the ceremony, the numbers, the research and how to prepare.
How it works
No study has tested iboga or ibogaine for body dysmorphia, so we never promise a change in the condition itself. What we offer is a supervised opening alongside therapy: a long night of reflection, held by a tradition and a medical team, then three months of work at home. This is what our experience since 2012, with 7,677 guests, has taught us to offer.
Before you travel, our physician reviews your health and your medicines. On the night she and the medical team are in the room, and the practitioner gives the medicine in steps, watching each guest.
In the Missoko Bwiti tradition the ceremony begins with the person, not the symptom. Guests often describe a long, lucid review of their life, sometimes including where the harsh eye on their own body began. Belief is not required.
Screening with our psychologist, the ceremonies, a life review the next day, then three months of integration calls. With your consent we write to your own therapist, so the work on checking and comparing goes on at home.
Who holds it
Michael and Cory open and hold the ceremony; Tania, our psychologist with close to a decade at Mexico's National Institute of Psychiatry, screens for what iboga cannot hold and carries the integration; Dr Villarreal keeps the body safe.
Safety
Three things matter most: your safety today, your medicines, and an honest screening.
Thoughts of ending one's life are common with body dysmorphia; in one study of 200 people, 78% had had them. There is no shame in that. Call or text 988 in the US or Canada, today. Acute suicidality is a reason to get care at home first: the retreat can wait, you matter more.
Many people with body dysmorphia take an SSRI, often at a high dose, or clomipramine. Some of these change how the body clears ibogaine, and fluoxetine needs a long washout. Never stop on your own: any taper is planned well ahead with your prescriber and our physician.
Tell us about anabolic steroids or stimulants, any eating disorder, and your mood, now and in the past. Iboga affects heart rhythm, so every guest has an ECG and a medical screening before travel; read how we protect your heart. Guests must be 18 or older.
Who it is for
Adults with body dysmorphia, with or without a diagnosis, including muscle dysmorphia, who are in therapy or ready to start. People who want a long, honest look at where the harsh eye on their body began, and who are willing to keep working after.
Active psychosis or recent mania, an unstable eating disorder, acute suicidality, a medication that cannot be tapered in time, pregnancy, or a heart condition. The psychologist and the physician decide together, and sometimes the answer is a later date.
Why it is hard
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a preoccupation with flaws in your appearance that others see as minor or cannot see at all, with repeated checking, grooming, comparing or seeking reassurance. It affects about 2.4% of US adults, women and men almost equally. It is not vanity. It belongs to the same family of conditions as OCD.
Each check, each camouflage, each reassurance brings a moment of relief, and the relief teaches the mind to do it again. Insight is often low, so many people look for a cosmetic fix rather than mental health care. BDD is found in about 13% of cosmetic surgery patients, against about 2% of people in the community.
The best-studied path is cognitive behavioral therapy designed for BDD, with exposure and response prevention: facing the mirror, a photo or a social moment without the ritual, one step at a time. In a review of seven randomized trials it worked, and the gains held months later. An SSRI, often at a higher dose, or clomipramine helps many people too. The UK's NICE guidelines recommend therapy with exposure, an SSRI, or both.
Find a therapist who knows BDD through the International OCD Foundation's BDD site, bdd.iocdf.org, or the BDD Foundation. Cutting back on checking, comparing and editing photos is part of the work, and a therapist can help you do it gradually.
A note on cosmetic procedures. They rarely help BDD. In a group of 200 people with BDD, 31% had sought cosmetic treatment and 21% had received it, yet only about 2.3% of the procedures brought a lasting improvement in BDD (IOCDF). Often the worry stays, or moves to another part of the body.
Filters and social media. In 2018 a commentary in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery used the term "Snapchat dysmorphia" for appearance worries tied to filtered photos (Boston University). It is not a diagnosis. Clinicians also link the "looksmaxxing" trend among young men to BDD and muscle dysmorphia (Michigan Medicine). These are observations: no one has shown that filters cause BDD.
Dates
Open retreats and the dedicated veterans' dates. Eight guests each; full list on the schedule.
You are more than the part of you that you keep checking. Come as you are; we will hold the night with you.
Pricing, US dollars
All inclusive from Cancún airport: screening, ceremonies, room, meals, three months of follow-up. All payments are final, see the terms. Full pricing.
Questions about body dysmorphia
Body dysmorphic disorder is a preoccupation with one or more flaws in your appearance that others see as minor or cannot see, together with repeated behaviors such as mirror checking, grooming, skin picking or seeking reassurance, or mental acts such as comparing. It causes real distress and gets in the way of life.
About 2.4% of US adults, 2.5% of women and 2.2% of men, in a 2008 phone survey of 2,048 people. It is far more common in some settings: a 2024 review of 65 studies found it in 18.6% of plastic surgery patients.
It sits in the same diagnostic family, the obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, but it is a separate diagnosis. The repetitive checking and comparing are part of what links them, and both respond to exposure and response prevention.
A form of body dysmorphia in which you believe your build is too small or not muscular enough. How common it is remains unclear: estimates vary widely between studies, and the research is weak. If you use anabolic steroids or stimulants, tell us in screening.
Rarely. In one group of 200 people with BDD, only about 2.3% of cosmetic procedures brought a lasting improvement in BDD. Symptoms usually persist or move to another part of the body. Therapy designed for BDD is the better first step.
With cognitive behavioral therapy designed for BDD and, if needed, an SSRI prescribed by a clinician. Reducing checking, camouflaging and reassurance seeking, step by step, is part of that therapy. A retreat can sit alongside it, not in place of it.
Filters and social media are linked to appearance worries, and a 2018 commentary coined "Snapchat dysmorphia", which is not a diagnosis. Causation has not been proven. If editing photos has become a ritual, it is worth raising with a therapist.
It can be. In a study of 200 people with BDD, 78% had had thoughts of suicide and 27.5% had made an attempt. If that is you, please call or text 988 in the US or Canada now. In the US you can also text HOME to 741741.
No study has tested iboga or ibogaine for body dysmorphia, so we do not claim it does. What we offer is a supervised night of reflection inside a tradition, with therapy and three months of follow-up, as a complement to the care that has evidence behind it.
Often, with a plan made well ahead by your prescriber and our physician. Some SSRIs change how ibogaine is cleared, and fluoxetine needs a long washout. Stopping suddenly can bring withdrawal, relapse and dark thoughts, so never stop on your own. Tell us on the discovery call.
Yes, with your consent. We can send a summary to your therapist, and integration calls can include them if you want. Your therapy for BDD stays the base of the work.
Yes. Guests must be 18 or older. Body dysmorphia often starts in the teenage years; for a young person, a clinician who knows BDD is the right first call.
You've carried this long enough. Start with a conversation with our medical team.
