Ketamine Therapy
Can Ketamine Provide You With The Relief You’ve Been Looking For?
Have you tried talk therapy or other interventions but have yet to experience meaningful, lasting relief from your mental health symptoms?
Despite your best efforts, are you unable to escape negative cognitions, critical self-beliefs, and distorted thinking patterns?
Do you find yourself unable to be vulnerable in therapy or other relationships?
Is your condition considered treatment-resistant?
Or are you curious about this highly researched and effective treatment and you're seeking the most efficient change?
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that, when used therapeutically, creates distance between its user and their thoughts, emotions, pain, and trauma response. This distance is key in offering our clients new insights and healing perspectives on their emotional wounds. As therapists who are committed to providing ethical, trauma-informed care to clients of all backgrounds and experiences, we are pleased to offer ketamine therapy to those who are treatment-resistant, unresponsive to other therapies, and all other eligible clients who have been evaluated and prescribed ketamine by a licensed medical professional.
The History & Study Of Ketamine Therapy
Ketamine was first synthesized in the 1960s—used as a surgical aesthetic. Over the years, researchers began looking into its hallucinogenic properties and their effect on chronic mental health issues like depression. By the early 2000s, ketamine was widely accepted as a therapeutic treatment and today, it’s used by therapists across the globe as an off-label alternative to conventional forms of talk therapy.
Though the benefits of ketamine can be experienced by clients with a wide range of mental health symptoms that impair their functioning—including anxiety and PTSD—the most robust research has been done on ketamine’s effect on depression. Some studies show that a reduction in depression symptoms is immediate and sustained for a month or longer when ketamine is used in treatment. [1] Moreover, research has determined that ketamine used in conjunction with psychotherapy is a more effective approach than either ketamine or counseling used on its own. [2]
How Does Ketamine Work?
The psychedelic qualities of ketamine offer its users a chance to open up, explore, and move past some of the subconscious barriers keeping them stuck in negative cycles. Because it targets many different receptors throughout the brain and body, ketamine promotes feelings of relaxation, euphoria, detachment, and decreased pain and sensitivity. Ketamine can also produce uncomfortable side effects, which is why it’s important to receive an accurate dosage and the support of a trained therapist who can ensure the treatment process is goal-oriented and safe.
With ketamine, new perspectives are facilitated as a new sense of mental and emotional flexibility is achieved. Typically, clients using ketamine can view their emotions and experiences in new, transformative ways that may have been inaccessible without the medicine.
Questions? Contact Us
Ketamine Therapy At Mindful Springs Counseling
We have multiple therapists on our staff who offer KAP both online and in-person to clients throughout Colorado and Washington. Aside from conditions that have been labeled treatment-resistant, we believe ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can be a meaningful intervention for clients experiencing:
- Depression
- PTSD
- Generalized anxiety
- Social anxiety
- Dysfunctional relationships
- And more
Our therapeutic approach is highly individualized and person-centered. No matter what brings a client to therapy, a thorough assessment will be done to decide if ketamine is an appropriate intervention.
What To Expect During The Treatment Process
Once you have completed the assessment to determine the pros and cons of KAP and if it will be used in your treatment, we will then refer you to a prescriber for a final medicine evaluation and to ensure that a safe yet effective dosage is prescribed.
From there, at least two more preparation sessions will be scheduled to clarify goals and ensure you have the proper coping skills in place to manage discomfort if it arises as the medication is administered. Some clients require up to six or eight preparation sessions, while others are ready to integrate medication after two preparation sessions—all of which can be conducted in person or online.
A three-hour medicine session is then scheduled. This will allow for ample time during which you will be under the influence of the medication (typically one to two hours), alongside time to become grounded and to get re-oriented once the ketamine has worn off. An integration session to discuss your experience will be scheduled within one week of the medicine session.
Our role as therapists is to guide you through this experience in a way that feels supportive and productive. As we explore the thoughts, images, and sensations you encountered during your medicine session, you can experience increased clarity and empowerment as you tap into your inner wisdom, resources, and healing potential.
What Sets Our Practice Apart
Our therapists have been formally trained by accredited institutions involved in the research of ketamine in mental health and continue to receive ongoing training and peer support to ensure we are providing safe and effective ketamine therapy to our clients. We believe that our clients know their own way to healing, but trauma and other barriers have reinforced unhealthy or counterproductive defenses. Our job is to remind and trust the clients we work with that they know the way to a resolution. Ketamine is a valuable tool in this process because it often helps to soften the defenses that get in the way of healing.
Our practice is unique in that all of our KAP therapists are formally trained in ketamine therapy and our ketamine therapy services are available online. We also partner with several insurance providers to cover some aspects of ketamine treatment. For clients looking for additional support and/or ketamine therapy at a reduced cost, we offer six- to eight-week ketamine groups that can help infuse the ketamine experience with a sense of community and shared understanding.
Alongside KAP, we have found that brain-based and whole-person focused techniques such as Brainspotting are particularly beneficial for targeting trauma that has been uncovered through the client’s psychedelic experience. We have been implementing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy at our practice since 2022 and remain committed to offering the most integrative, ethical, and up-to-date care possible.
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