Recovery: an alcoholic's story | Robert Rhatigan | TEDxABQ 

NOTE FROM TED: Do not look to this talk for medical or mental health advice. There are significant health risks with the substances discussed in this talk. Experiments discussed in this talk should not be performed outside of accredited research settings. This talk only represents the speaker's views and understanding of psychedelics and addiction. We've flagged this talk because it falls outside the content guidelines TED gives TEDx organizers. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: storage.ted.com...
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Robert Rhatigan struggled with alcoholism for over ten years. When numerous attempts to overcome addiction through will-power and conventional treatment failed, he traveled to the Peruvian Amazon for treatment from local shamans. After four challenging ceremonies with a purgative, psychedelic plant medicine his desire for alcohol dissolved and a quest to understand his transformation began.
A New York City native, Rhatigan is a Research Scientist with the Geospatial and Population Studies Department at the University of New Mexico. He holds a Master's Degree in Applied Geography from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor's in Environmental Science from the State University of New York. After starting a career on Wall Street, Robert helped build a successful tech start-up, worked as an environmental consultant, published non-fiction writing and delivered mail for the US Postal Service. Sober and craving free for over four years, he still contends with an incurable case of wanderlust.
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