I offer a therapeutic modality called Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in partnership with an organization called Journey Clinical:

https://journey64608.ac-page.com/patientresourcecenter 

KAP is a holistic modality in which ketamine is used as an adjunct to psychotherapy to help eligible clients experience more frequent breakthroughs and sustained improvement in symptoms. Psyberspace takes on the psychotherapy aspect of the experience while Journey Clinical addresses all of your medical needs. This includes determining eligibility, developing a custom treatment plan, prescribing medicine, and monitoring outcomes.

What is KAP?

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a therapeutic approach that combines the use of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic with psychedelic properties, with psychotherapy. Ketamine is legal, safe, and effective; it is recognized by the World Health Organization as a chief essential medicine. This treatment is used primarily for individuals with mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, particularly when traditional treatments have been ineffective. Unlike traditional antidepressants, which primarily target serotonin and can take weeks to show effects, ketamine acts on different pathways and may promote rapid changes in brain connectivity and mood, sometimes within hours or days. It works by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptors as well as by stimulating AMPA receptors, which aid in forming new synaptic connections and boost neural circuits that regulate stress and mood through the glutamate system, which fosters lasting symptom improvement.

How Does Ketamine Feel?

The effects of ketamine, which most clients find pleasant, last for approximately 45 minutes. These effects can make you feel “far from” your body, and facilitate shifts in perception that can often feel expansive in nature. Your motor and verbal abilities will be reduced, so you’ll be lying down in a comfortable position during the experience. Once these effects subsided, we’ll spend the remainder of our session giving you space to process and discuss your experience. While it may feel hard to articulate what happened during the experience, clients feel like the insights gained are none-the-less clear. Studies have shown that the benefits to mood and neurological growth can last up to two weeks after the Ketamine experience.

How Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Works

1. Initial medical consultation

• You schedule an initial evaluation with a medical team provider. They will go over your medical and psychiatric history with you, provide education on the treatment, and determine if you are eligible for KAP.
• If you are deemed eligible for KAP, they will develop a personalized Ketamine prescription and outcome monitoring plan for you.
• Medical staff will write a ketamine prescription for you, and a small amount of oral ketamine will be sent to your home, enough for the first 2 KAP sessions. You will be taught to take your vitals and self-administer the ketamine lozenges by the medical team, if seeking telehealth, in advance of our KAP sessions.

2. Preparation sessions:

• Once you receive your ketamine lozenges, we will schedule time together for our KAP preparation, dosing and integration sessions. The goal of a preparation session(s) is to align on the process and set intentions for our KAP sessions together.

3. KAP Dosing Session:

• A typical ketamine dosing session lasts between 1-2 hours and can take place either in-person at my office or remotely via telehealth.
• During a dosing session, you will self-administer your ketamine lozenge either in my office or in your home. Or you can receive an intramuscular (IM) injection in person. IM and intravenous administration provide the highest absorption rate of the medicine. You will be in a comfortable, reclining position wearing an eye mask and listening to calming music. Although a KAP dosing session may be largely an internal experience, I will be present with you the entire time to hold space and provide support as needed.

4. Integration Sessions:

• After our KAP dosing session, we will meet for multiple integration therapy sessions to review the memories, thoughts & insights that arose during your dosing session, and to prepare for the next dosing session.

5. Follow-up medical consultations:

• After our first KAP session, our medical team schedules regular follow ups with you to monitor outcomes and prescribe ketamine lozenge refills, as appropriate. The frequency of follow ups depends on your unique treatment plan, at a minimum of once per quarter

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: