Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Tampa
KETAMINE-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY
Imagine you could take a medically ordered prescription and an afternoon off for a temporarily mind-altering experience. By doing this once a week for several weeks, you might dramatically increase the effectiveness of your psychotherapy. It would have no medical risk, wouldn’t cost a lot (comparatively speaking) and might even save time and money by speeding the therapeutic process. During the experience, a friend would be with you for safety and support. Later, you would discuss each experience with your therapist to ensure you fully integrated what you’d gone through. Would you do it?
THE BENEFITS OF KETAMINE-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY
Yale Department of Psychiatry touts ketamine as the biggest breakthrough in psychiatry in the past 50 years.
“Ketamine is not for everyone. Not everyone responds. Not everyone finds it an easy medicine. For some, there are immediate awakenings. For most, it takes time for effects to manifest. In the moment of its influence and often afterwards, it may well be the most profound internal experience of mind.” — Phil Wolfson, M.D., in The Ketamine Papers
Ketamine-assisted therapy is for anyone who’s curious about how they can grow as a person and feel happier every day—I’m talking therapy curious, ketamine curious, psychedelic curious.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is for anyone who’s experienced trauma. And I don’t mean just a single traumatic event. I also mean anyone who’s really wrapped up in traumatic patterns of dealing with the world, or traumatic relationships that haven’t served their needs.
Ketamine is an effective treatment ally whether you’ve experienced little-t trauma (interpersonal conflict, infidelity, loss, long-term instability or uncertainty, legal trouble, financial worries, etc.), big-T Trauma (sexual assault, natural disaster, terrorist attack, combat experience, etc.), or CPTSD–complex post-traumatic stress disorder (deeply rooted maladaptive patterns of interpersonal relating and self-regulation that began in childhood).
It’s important to note that anyone with complex post-traumatic stress probably won’t find resolution with a one-off or a six-dose ketamine journey. That’s going to require, at minimum, a two or three-year journey of intensive work with someone who knows your whole story. In every case, the journey can and should incorporate a practice or a program of learning new thought patterns and behaviors.
Most of the latest news about ketamine-assisted psychotherapy has focused on treatment-resistant depression. However, several clinical trials have documented the benefits of using ketamine in conjunction with psychotherapy to great benefit for many other mental health concerns.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) begins with preparation. During preparation, you learn what to expect, what your responsibilities are, and get any questions you have answered. You’ll also learn ways to get the most out of your ketamine experience.
The ketamine experience itself is typically quiet and introspective. At-home oral dosing lasts about 2-3 hours. Intramuscular doses last about an hour.
You’ll also have post-experience integration sessions, which are as important as the ketamine experience. During these sessions, you will examine and integrate insights from your ketamine session into your daily life. While the physical benefits of ketamine happen with or without these integration sessions, the lasting psychological benefits require a program of transformation.
It is well known that ketamine stimulates neuroplasticity, so learning new and better ways of thinking and behaving becomes easier. But be warned, you must be an active executor and participant in this learning. It doesn’t just happen on its own. Neuroplasticity is a brain state that optimizes POTENTIAL for learning. It is a catalyst. It’s not magic. Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy will assist you in achieving your goals rather than continuously managing symptoms.
The ordinary waking consciousness is a very useful one, and on most occasions, an indispensable state of mind; but it is by no means the only form of consciousness, nor in all circumstances the best…
The mystical experience is doubly valuable; it is valuable because it gives the experiencer a better understanding of himself and the world and because it may help him lead a less self-centered and more creative life.
—Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Collected Essays
The Beginner’s Guide to Ketamine Therapy for Mental Health
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
Imagine you could take a medically ordered prescription and an afternoon off for a temporarily mind-altering experience. By doing this once a week for several weeks, you might dramatically increase the effectiveness of your psychotherapy. It would have no medical risk, wouldn’t cost a lot (comparatively speaking) and might even save time and money by speeding the therapeutic process. During the experience, a friend would be with you for safety and support. Later, you would discuss each experience with your therapist to ensure you fully integrated what you’d gone through.
Would you do it?
The goal of this book is to help you decide.
