Ketamine Therapy
What Is Ketamine Therapy?
When we experience trauma, its imprint gets stored within the body. While our memories of the event may become fragmented or forgotten over time, the nervous system holds onto the emotional charge of the traumatic experience. Unprocessed trauma can cause a host of symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and dissociation—shutting down our emotions as a way of protecting ourselves from further pain. Left unaddressed, trauma can keep us stuck in the fight, flight or freeze response so that danger feels ever-present.
Psychedelic Somatic Interactive Processing (PSIP) is a subtype of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) that addresses trauma stored within the nervous system. Developed by Saj Razvi in 2008, PSIP utilizes cannabis or ketamine to address trauma trapped within the body at an unconscious level. Bringing trauma into conscious awareness through ketamine therapy allows healing to happen.
One study showed that "when cannabis was paired with PSIP, there was a 98 percent reduction in pathological dissociation, as measured by the Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation, no longer meeting criteria for D-PTSD." [1]
How Ketamine Therapy Sessions Are Conducted
We will begin with talk therapy to get a background of your history and determine whether cannabis or ketamine-assisted therapy is appropriate for your needs. Psychoeducation—in the form of reviewing the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) map in person and watching informative videos—provides clients with a helpful overview of how the nervous works and how PSIP interacts with it.
Before introducing cannabis or ketamine, we will conduct one or two sessions without medicine so clients become comfortable with the therapy process and the nervous system is prepared. Once we incorporate medicine, it will either be procured by the client directly (a cannabis vape pen) or prescribed by a referred psychiatrist (a ketamine oral tincture). Although I can recommend specific dosages, it’s up to the client to decide how much medicine to self-administer. We usually begin with cannabis and work up to ketamine, low and slow.
In cannabis and ketamine therapy sessions, clients lie comfortably on a couch wearing an eye mask to limit any sensory input. Suppressing voluntary movement allows the body’s involuntary movements to come forward. Once relaxed, they will focus on inhibiting voluntary movement as much as possible, such as fidgeting, scratching, or swallowing.
I will check in with clients to track their inner processes—images, memories, bodily sensations, and emotions—and ask them to tell me whenever something changes. Throughout this process, we bypass the analytical brain and allow the body to communicate with us. Once these sensations and memories have surfaced, we can make sense of them.
Sessions last approximately two hours and are usually followed up with a decompression period at my office. For safety, I highly recommend that clients arrange transportation to and from these appointments.
Who Can Benefit From Ketamine Therapy?
PSIP, the subtype of ketamine therapy I’m trained in, can be used for the treatment of depression and anxiety associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). More specifically, PSIP can benefit anyone who experiences dissociation whenever they feel overwhelmed. In addition to survivors of childhood trauma and sexual assault, ketamine-assisted therapy is also an effective treatment for first responders or anyone in an occupation that requires them to push their emotions down to stay present and function adequately on the job.
With ketamine therapy, clients can benefit from its ability to promote neuroplasticity by repairing the brain’s neural connections that have been damaged as a result of chronic anxiety and depression. Through its interaction with the brain’s default mode network (DMN), administering ketamine during psychotherapy can help diminish the negative thoughts associated with many mental health disorders. [2]
In conjunction with PSIP, I incorporate Internal Family Systems (IFS), attachment theory, and talk therapy into sessions. I often encourage clients to keep a journal between sessions as well as record their dreams to gain insight into integrating their experiences. Before or after ketamine therapy sessions, we may utilize Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) or Brainspotting to help process traumatic memories.
Why I Offer Ketamine Therapy
Some trauma survivors struggle to access their emotions and feel numb, which can make these modalities less effective. This disassociation may result from working as first responders, where keeping emotions at bay is the only way to function, and avoidance becomes the default. Or these may be people who, as children, were taught to minimize or push away their "negative" feelings. Over time, they were conditioned to disregard, avoid, or not think about painful experiences.
Ketamine therapy offers a deep dive into trauma healing and processing. Because clients are in an altered state without distraction, it allows them to get in touch with different parts of themselves they may not have been aware were there and connect with a deeper part of themselves.
Since incorporating PSIP into my practice, many clients have stated they feel "lighter" and "more present" in their lives. They know how to “read their bodies” by connecting somatic experiences with their emotions. Another benefit of cannabis and ketamine-assisted therapy is that it can lead to healing more quickly than talk therapy. Through ketamine therapy, clients can access their unconscious minds, gaining invaluable insights into why they behave or react the way they do.
Find Out How Ketamine Therapy Can Help You
To find out more about how ketamine-assisted therapy and PSIP can help you, please visit my contact page or call (970) 305-5860 to schedule a free 20-minute consultation with me.
[1] https://www.psychedelicsomatic.org/research
[2] https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-the-default-mode-network-2488818
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