What is Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)?
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) combines the powerful use of ketamine as therapeutic medicine with the relational, co-regulating aspects of psychotherapy. This beautiful recipe allows for deeper access into the subconscious. The ketamine peels back layers of one’s emotional experience, so that you can “see” more clearly emotionally, without filters, and with less defenses.
How does KAP work?
Ketamine temporarily quiets the DMN (default mode network) in the brain, which acts like a filter, keeping us stuck in habitual thought patterns and defenses. Acting as a gateway to the subconscious, ketamine allows a deeper, more fluid access to our subconscious thoughts, emotions and memories. This means we can explore things in therapy with less resistance, less fear, and less attachment to old narratives, leading to us being able to bypass ego defenses, increase emotional processing, discover new perspectives and insights and feel into the detachment from suffering.
Re-wiring the Brain
With ketamine, we’re opening a window for enhanced neuroplasticity; the brain becomes healthier and is essentially re-wiring itself. Ketamine reduces hyperactivity in the amygdala alarm system within the brain (when overactive, this alarm system fuels our anxiety, fear, and stress). This is why people often report feeling a sense of detachment from negative thoughts or trauma during and after ketamine therapy. When the amygdala alarm system turns down, the vagus nerve kicks in, where our nervous system can instinctively take a deep breath, shifting the body from a stress response to a relaxed state. This helps slow heart rate, improve gut function, and reduce anxiety, which is why some people feel a deep sense of calm after ketamine therapy. Ketamine also increases BDNF levels in the brain (BDNF = brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a brain protein involved in brain plasticity and synaptic connections. It plays a major role in mood regulation, memory, and executive functioning). Ketamine helps to quickly boost BDNF, forming new connections and sprouting new dendrite spines. If you think of your brain like a garden, BDNF is like fertilizer that helps your brain grow strong, healthy connections, like nourishing your internal flora and fauna.
What is Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy helpful for?
Ketamine helps treat Depression, Anxiety and PTSD, with clinical studies proving out rapid antidepressant effects, reduction in suicidal ideation, and support of fear extinction and cognitive flexibility, which are beneficial for PTSD and anxiety treatments.
What does KAP treatment look like?
KAP has a unique flow to it. We’ll have a 50 minute prep session where we discuss your goals, do some assessment, establish safety and set intentions for your dose. We’ll get organized and set you up to feel good, clear, and ready. Dosing sessions are three hours. Depending on what you’re open to, at the top of session we can invite in all types of grounding exercises - everyone’s journey looks different. We’ll set the tone, drop into your intentions and the journey begins. Two integration sessions happen post-dose, where we reflect on what came up and process your experience, massaging the learnings of your journey into the nervous system so you have ready access to it for the long haul.