Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
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Ketamine is a substance known for its medicinal use to help pain relief as well as its psychedelic properties and hallucinogenic effects.
Ketamine works differently than traditional antidepressants and is often effective when SSRIs fail.
Ketamine can decrease sensitivity to pain. It can also create hypnotic, dream-like, or even fully dissociative trance states for a person, depending on dosage amount and route of administration.
Ketamine produces a cascade of neurobiological effects in the brain to promote healing.
Research has explored the potential of psychedelics in psychotherapy for several decades. Studies have shown that Chronic stress weakens the immune system as well as neural connections in the brain over time. Depression can also decrease the number of synapses in the brain.
Ketamine works directly to restore, rebuild, replenish, and open up synaptic connections which help with neuroplasticity.
Ketamine's dissociative and pain-managing processes help individuals safely explore painful emotions and memories.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) utilizes ketamine to help clients struggling to find with mental health symptoms, to explore, heal, understand, and learn from the "psychedelic state" (alternative state of consciousness).
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a mental health treatment method that involves using ketamine’s trance-inducing and pain-relieving properties to help individuals work through various mental and emotional challenges.
Ketamine Assisted Therapy sessions are typically 2.5 hours long, which occurs after a thorough intake session, medical evaluation, and preparation discussion with provider(s).
Ketamine Assisted Therapy sessions typically happen with a series of 6-12 sessions, on average, and occur weekly or bi-weekly.
During Ketamine Assisted Therapy sessions, clients will:
Participate in breath work and/or guided meditation
Explore, Discuss, and Set intentions
Lay on a couch or mat on the ground
Wear eye shades, which helps clients focus on the internal psychological patterns that emerges in the psychedelic space.
Listen to music since it's an important part of the Ketamine therapy session (Music is played on a speaker. Headphones can be worn if that's preferred).
Be guided by the therapist to focus your attention inward and work through emotions or experiences that may come up
Psychedelic Integration
Psychedelics have the power to shape us in a profound & positive way. It can help us heal through understanding and insight.
Ketamine helps restore brain receptors by repairing or making new connections. It binds to the NMDA receptor and releases a glutamate surge. This in turn releases growth factors, like BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which help make new synaptic connections, paving the way for healthier thought patterns.
A “psychedelic state” is simply a different aspect of your consciousness. These states allow you to safely, objectively, and productively explore your thoughts, emotions, memories, past, etc. from a new perspective.
After the experience, the client and therapist sit together and discuss what came up. This is known as Psychedelic integration.
Psychedelic integration is a crucial aspect, in conjunction to the use of Ketamine, as treatment and have been found to be more effective than just IV Ketamine.
The purpose of Psychedelic integration is to generate understanding, make interpretations, and create meaning that come from the psychedelic state.
Most of the time, journeys will involve messages, symbolism, metaphors, and analogies that could be difficult to decipher alone and without a trained professional. The therapist's role during psychedelic integration is to help you take the insights from your experiences and create sustainable, lasting change.
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