KETAMINE-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY

What is ketamine?

Though ketamine is an FDA-approved medication for anesthesia, it has also been utilized successfully “off-label” to manage acute and chronic pain conditions, and to treat depression and other mental health conditions. Off-label use is a common and legal medical practice where a doctor uses a medication to treat a different condition than it was originally intended for.

How does it work?

Ketamine-assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) uses ketamine in combination with ongoing psychotherapy as a catalyst for psychological growth and healing. So often we get stuck in our thought or behavior patterns, unable to gain perspective or change. The ketamine experience is characterized by the relaxation of your typical mindset and defense mechanisms, allowing you to explore other ways of thinking and feeling. When paired with a trained facilitator who can help you understand and integrate these insights into your daily life during and after sessions, we find KAP can lead to significant psychological growth and shifts in overall well-being. This approach has been shown to be effective for depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and at SoundMind we’ve also seen benefit for OCD, ADHD, and postpartum depression. Please note, this is different from the care offered at ketamine infusion clinics—in those settings, ketamine is given via IV, typically does not include 1:1 support with a trained facilitator, and is not accompanied by psychotherapy and integration. See below.

What happens during a KAP session?

A treatment session might look something like the image to the right: you will put on eyeshades we give you and get comfy in one of our reclining couches. We will lead you through a meditation or relaxation exercise, and you will swish the ketamine lozenge in your mouth for 15 minutes before swallowing to allow the medicine to absorb. Then you will lie down and spend the next two hours or so in a ketamine journey. We will be by your side the whole time. Sometimes people want to talk and other times they want to stay quiet, all responses are okay! After about two hours or so most people feel the medicine is wearing off, and will begin talking more. Eventually you will take your eyeshades off, and we will spend the last portion of the session talking and processing what you experienced while on the medicine. You will have arranged a ride or call a car service, or you can walk home if you live close. We will check in with you the next day, and schedule your next session.

Our patients typically start out with 3 KAP sessions spaced one week apart. Most people need 2-3 sessions of KAP to see if these treatments will work for them. Each KAP session is in-person, lasts 3-4 hours, and includes time for integration of the experience directly following the medicine.

How is Ketamine-assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) different from other ketamine treatments?

Ketamine is a versatile medicine that can be given in different ways, at different doses. Most ketamine clinics offer ketamine infusions intravenously (in an IV) over 30-45 minutes, and there is typically no psychotherapy integrated into the treatment. Providing ketamine in this way works more like taking any other medication for mental illness—the goal is to change your brain chemistry. For some patients, this can provide long-term relief after multiple infusions, but for others, the effects wear off once they stop receiving infusions. Other ketamine providers prescribe ketamine in lozenge form for you to take at home, with minimal psychotherapeutic support.

KAP at SoundMind is a different model of care. KAP uses ketamine to catalyze psychotherapy and the healing benefits it can provide. We offer the medication in a lozenge or in an intramuscular injection, at doses that produce a psychedelic “trip” or “journey” experience that lasts 1.5 to 2.5 hours. An experienced facilitator and physician is with you the entire time to support you and cultivate an ideal environment for safety, growth, and healing. After your journey, we provide psychotherapy to help you integrate and make meaning of your experience, and move you toward your goals for symptom relief and behavior change. Over the course of 3+ journeys, we help you work toward lasting change by healing the root causes underlying your mental health challenges. We cannot emphasize enough the healing potential of this medicine when combined with a safe, supportive psychotherapy experience.

Who is eligible for KAP treatment?

It is very important to us that everyone we enroll in KAP can safely engage in the treatment and is likely to benefit from this approach.  KAP is not the right treatment for all mental health conditions and there are several physical health conditions that may exclude individuals from safely engaging in KAP (e.g., certain heart conditions, uncontrolled hyperthyroidism). We are committed to safety and to using the latest research to determine the best treatment for our patients. As we ramp up services, we are also requiring that patients have a psychotherapist they currently work with outside of SoundMind. We don’t have enough staff to provide KAP and continued psychotherapy for all our patients, and ongoing psychotherapeutic support is an important part of processing and integrating the growth and change that result from KAP. We are working on expanding our staff and hope to relax this requirement as we grow.

How do I get started?

In order to enroll you as a patient, we need to ensure that this treatment is a good fit for you. We ask that you fill out our patient interest form here. Please note that you won't hear from us until spots become available for the services, and we are currently working through our waitlist. If you have a more urgent need for therapy, please continue to look for a therapist in the meantime.

Once we review that form, we will let you know if you’re eligible to move forward. Those who are eligible will be asked to fill out an intake form and schedule for a free consultation call to discuss treatment with one of our providers. This call will give you a chance to ask questions and assess if KAP is the right treatment for you at this time. Folks who move forward after that will see one of our prescribers for a medical intake and get set up to start KAP!

You can sign up to our waitlist below.