Ketamine Therapy – Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

Ketamine Therapy is Psychedelic Psychotherapy

In addition to my psychoanalytic training, I have completed training in psychedelic psychotherapy at both the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (typically referred to as MAPS) and Polaris Insight Center. Where traditional psychotherapy mostly began in Austria with Freud, psychedelic psychotherapy’s lineage began in indigenous cultures and their healing rituals all over the world. I am trained in both approaches and strive to bring the best of both to my work with my patients.

Ketamine Therapy is a form of psychedelic psychotherapy; it resembles traditional psychotherapy, but has many key differences, such as the presence of music, moments of silence, and being reclined with your eyes closed. In addition, the ketamine therapy medicine session is significantly longer than the traditional 45-50 minute psychotherapy meeting. All of these factors allow individuals to connect more deeply to themself.

Ketamine Therapy (Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy)

Ketamine Therapy (also know as Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy or KAP) is an innovative form of mental health treatment that uses ketamine to assist the psychotherapeutic process. Ketamine Therapy facilitates deep personal exploration during medicine sessions and gives rise to unconscious material that can later be used to your benefit during integration therapy sessions. Research has focused mainly on using Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy to treat Treatment-Resistant Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. However, ketamine is quickly becoming a promising medicine in the mental health field and is beginning to be used to treat a variety of mental health issues. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy benefits individuals by increasing cognitive flexibility, increasing emotional fluidity, loosening rigid personality structures, and offering new perspectives and insights.

Ketamine Therapy Protocol and Course of Treatment

Medical and Psychological Evaluations: Your Ketamine Therapy treatment will begin with a medical and psychological evaluation. The medical evaluation will be performed by a physician who collaborates closely with me and I will conduct the psychological evaluation. These evaluations will be used to determine, both medically and emotionally, if you are a good candidate for Ketamine Therapy, or if another form of treatment would suit you better. In addition, the evaluations will determine if private practice care is right for you, as some clients will benefit more from a specific mental health program or a higher level of care.

Prep Sessions: After the evaluations, we will meet for prep sessions. During these visits, you will be able to tell your story in more detail and we will set your specific intentions and goals for your medicine session with ketamine. In addition, to building rapport with each other and reviewing your history, we will discuss how to mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare for your medicine session(s).

Ketamine Therapy Medicine Session: Ketamine Therapy medicine sessions resembles traditional psychotherapy, but has many key differences, such as the presence of music, moments of silence, and being reclined with your eyes closed. All of these factors will hopefully allow you to connect more deeply to yourself. My job is to track you, guide you, and keep you safe. Clients will differ in the number of medicine sessions they have, which depends upon their goals, intentions, and struggles. Typically, medicine sessions will be spread out with weeks or even months in between, which gives time for the individual to reflect on and integrate their medicine experience into their everyday life.

Integration Sessions: Approximately a week after the medicine session (or sooner even in some cases), we will meet for one or more integration sessions. Integration sessions provide you an opportunity to reflect on the deep emotional experience you felt during the medicine day. They also provide you an opportunity to integrate your insights and discoveries into your everyday life and personhood. These meetings look more like traditional psychotherapy, with a focus on discussing the medicine session and how the experience affected and changed you.

If you would like to set up a free 15-minute Ketamine Therapy initial phone consultation, you can contact me by filling out this form.