Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has been FDA approved since 1970. It has long been used to aid in surgeries, but more recently ketamine has been studied and used in the clinical setting to address pain, depression, substance use, and other mental health concerns. Ketamine has consistently been used safely when under the supervision of a medical professional and/or when taken as prescribed. When used for mental health, ketamine is most often administered intravenously, through intramuscular injection, or through an oral lozenge. Amethyst Integration offers ketamine- assisted psychotherapy (KAP) to clients who are using ketamine in the lozenge form. We refer you to a medical provider whom we closely collaborate with while you are under our care.
Although ketamine has several mechanisms of action, one way that it helps improve mental health is in it’s effect on the default mode network. The brain’s default mode network (DMN) is a web of brain regions that are active when we are at rest. This type of brain activity is associated with thoughts about the self, autobiographical memories, thoughts about the future and understanding the mental states of oneself and others. There is often a rigidity in the DMN in those struggling with their mental health which contributes to one’s sense of “being stuck”; one literally can’t imagine things being different because their neurons are in stubborn ruts of functioning. Ketamine temporarily relaxes the DMN and creates new neural connections throughout the brain. Following ketamine administration, there is a window of neural plasticity wherein it is easier to break from old ways of being and to establish better mental habits and ways of living.
Combining psychotherapy with ketamine has been shown to catalyze the therapeutic benefits of ketamine. By leveraging the unique pharmacological effects of the medicine with psychotherapy, increased insight and deep emotional processing is more easily attained than in traditional talk therapy or ketamine administration alone. Clients typically commit to three to six KAP sessions along with the mandatory preparation and integration sessions to get the most out of this therapy. Click HERE for more information on the process of KAP.
