A Trauma-Based Lens on Chronic Mental Health Disorders and the Role of Ketamine in Treatment
I come from the perspective that the majority of mental health conditions stem, at least in part, from unprocessed or dormant traumatic experiences. Sometimes there is a clear connection between trauma and a mental health disorder. For example, when a client’s depression resurfaces following injury from a major car accident, the link between the event and the mental health symptoms is fairly obvious. However, often clients are unaware of the experiences that underlie their mental health conditions due to active defense structures and distorted thought processes stemming from the trauma itself. Ketamine assisted psychotherapy has been shown to help clients access subconscious material that may give insight into the underpinnings of their suffering. Read on to learn more about the role of trauma in maintaining chronic mental health disorders and how ketamine can assist treatment for such conditions.
As most therapists know, it is not a particular event which determines whether an experience is embodied as traumatic. Rather, a stressful event may lead to a prolonged stress reaction (i.e., post traumatic stress disorder) when the experience overwhelms the inner and external resources of an individual. People can go through immensely stressful situations that do not land as trauma in the body due to having adequate inner resources and the necessary social and systemic support to help them process and recover from these experiences. Alternatively, events that may not appear traumatic at first glance can be embodied as such when the individual is in a vulnerable state, doesn’t have access to supportive others, or has repeated exposure to the stressful event.
Single- incident traumas or situations that society explicitly understands as traumatic- such as war, sexual assault, or violent crime- are often more straightforward to treat as there is less digging for the incident that caused the injury. Further, individuals who experience such traumas often have access to special services or support networks to help ameliorate the effects of the trauma. However, those who experience stressful situations that overwhelm their nervous systems due to a lack of resources may experience the same traumatic effects but without socially sanctioned understanding and support. This lack of acknowledgment of the hurt causes further injury; trauma naturally creates a sense of self-blame which is only exacerbated when there is no external voice to counter that. Enter symptoms of depression, anxiety, emotion dysregulation and maladaptive attempts at managing trauma symptoms with no real understanding or compassion for what the self has endured. Often these symptoms take on a life of their own, crystallizing into chronic mental health challenges that are often resistant to traditional forms of treatment.
Ketamine has the potential to help clients identify and access the ways in which traumatic events still play out inside of them, not merely on an intellectual level but through a felt sense and inner-knowing. With the support of a psychotherapist, ketamine can help individuals relax rigid beliefs and protective defenses that have kept their traumas out of reach for intervention. As a dissociative anesthetic, ketamine reduces physiological reactivity and allows for a degree of objectivity which helps individuals revisit traumatic material without becoming overwhelmed. This emotional distance often fosters self-compassion for the part of the self that endured the trauma. With guidance, ketamine can increase insight into how trauma has influenced views on the self, others, and the world. Individuals are better able to challenge distorted beliefs stemming from the past, not just on a cognitive level, but in a way that sits true in the emotional body. Furthermore, early research suggests that low-dose ketamine is being used successfully alongside established trauma treatments such as EMDR, Prolonged Exposure, Somatic Experiencing, and Internal Family Systems, with promising evidence of quicker and more robust results in some populations.
As we continue to grow in our understanding of the complex interplay between trauma and chronic mental health conditions, one thing is clear: treatment must be multifaceted. Ketamine assisted therapy is one new promising tool that may help individuals access and work through deep psychological wounds that contribute to so-called ‘treatment resistant’ conditions. For more information about how ketamine can facilitate healing, visit my website at AmethystIntegration.com or reach out today for a free consultation.
