Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
Ketamine can create a temporary alteration in a patient's psychological state that psychotherapy helps them make use of. The increased psychological flexibility associated with ketamine enables exploration of longstanding patterns, meaning, identity, and relationships.
Preparation, the therapeutic relationship, intention, and integration are particularly important to making therapeutic use of ketamine.
In Ketamine Assisted Therapy (KAP), the non-ordinary state of consciousness ketamine offers is leveraged to facilitate the work of depth psychotherapy. Ketamine is a prescribable consciousness-altering substance akin to (but distinct from) other psychedelics that are currently only legally available in the research domain.
KAP is broken down into four distinct phases:
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Clients interested in KAP will first be assessed and evaluated by an MD for a prescription.
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The next phase entails meeting with me to explore intention, ceremonial preferences, journey ‘flight instructions,’ and informed consent detailing the benefits and risks of KAP.
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The length of a KAP session is typically 3 hours, including some final preparation, the ketamine experience itself, and some time as the acute effects wear off. The acute ketamine effects typically last about 60 to 90 minutes. As the treatment winds down, I continue to monitor and provide support, and we might also use this time to begin to integrate the experience. Ketamine is administered sublingually, and patients must organize a ride home after the KAP session.
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Post KAP session, integration is an integral part of treatment. I support participants in making their experiences understandable, meaningful, and beneficial. These integration sessions can also serve as preparation for subsequent KAP sessions.
KAP is not just psychotherapy about a recent ketamine journey.
It is also not “three years of therapy in three hours,” or a way to bypass earned wisdom or change.
To paraphrase one of my teachers, Harvey Schwartz, PhD, KAP is not about bypassing a relationship for a molecule. KAP integrates a molecule into a therapeutic relationship to optimize and deepen its capacity for transformation and healing.
Ketamine tends to quiet the brain's usual defensive, self-critical patterns.
It can create a temporary window of increased openness and neuroplasticity, which in turn creates access to emotions, memories, or perspectives that are otherwise hard to reach in ordinary talk therapy.
KAP may benefit adults who are experiencing persistent psychological distress that hasn’t adequately improved with conventional treatment, particularly when ketamine is paired with psychotherapy and careful preparation/integration.
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Office in California
KAP services are offered from my office in Kentfield in Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge. There are some KAP treatment phases that can be conducted via tele-health, however the KAP experiential session must be in-office.