Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

What is Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy?

Helpful Resources

  1. Paradigms of Ketamine Treatment by Raquel Bennett, Psy.D. for MAPS

  2. Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): Patient Demographics, Clinical Data and Outcomes in Three Large Practices Administering Ketamine with Psychotherapy - research study by Jennifer Dore et al, 2018

  3. Ketamine for Depression and Mood Disorders by Erica Zelfand, ND for Townsend Letter

  4. Ketamine-Facilitated Psychotherapy for Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression by goop

  5. Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy with Jonathan Sabbagh of Journey Clinical - Psychology Talk Podcast

Ketamine is an FDA-approved medication that has historically been used as a dissociative anesthesia. However, within the past 20 years, there have been various studies supporting small doses of Ketamine in treating various mental health concerns and providing long-lasting change. Ketamine has been showed to treat treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, trauma, suicidality, substance use, among other concerns. Ketamine is a rapid anti-depressant and has radpid mood enhancing effects with effects taking place within 1-2 hours and lasting up to 2 weeks.

Ketamine changes BDNF, which is a key factor in brain functioning. What this means is: it allows for new patterns in your brain to be formed. For example, someone who has struggled with depression may talk negatively about themselves. After a Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy session, new patterns can be formed for negative self talk to decrease and positive self-talk/positive self-regard to increase.

I offer a therapeutic modality called Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in partnership with an organization called Journey Clinical. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a holistic modality in which ketamine is used as a complement to psychotherapy to help eligible clients experience more frequent breakthroughs and sustained improvement in symptoms. I take on the psychotherapy portion of the experience, while Journey Clinical’s medical team supports you on all medical aspects. This includes determining eligibility, developing a custom treatment plan, prescribing the medicine and monitoring outcomes. Below is more information about KAP to help you navigate if it may be a good fit for you.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) 101

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