Upper Westside Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

We provide treatments for adults, children, adolescents, and couples on a wide variety of emotional issues and life challenges, helping them to recognize their needs and strengths and to discover opportunities for new and different experiences. While some people come to therapy seeking relief from specific emotional problems such as depression, anxiety or stress, or in order to come to terms with a painful or traumatic history, others come with broad dissatisfaction with their lives while at the same time having some sense that there is a better life they could be living, and an unlived version of themselves that they could become. For many of our adult clients, psychotherapy alone does not get them as far as they would like, as quickly as they would like, in their efforts to make changes in their lives. One of the tools we’ve found to be the most powerful when an adult client feels “stuck” or unable to see progress with their depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, or trauma is Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (known as KAP) uses a safe, legal medicine called ketamine as an adjunct to psychotherapy. Ketamine works in two ways to help clients heal; it gently brings clients into an altered state of consciousness where processing difficult material may become easier, and clients may also experience a psychedelic-like journey into deeper parts of themselves. Ketamine also has a positive impact on the brain itself. Ketamine targets the neurotransmitter glutamate, a different neurotransmitter than the ones impacted by typical antidepressants. Ketamine can cause the brain to undergo a period of openness called neuroplasticity, where new, healthier thoughts and beliefs can be incorporated with therapeutic support, leading to positive outcomes not seen through either psychotherapy alone or with antianxiety and antidepressant medication. Whether you feel that KAP is right for you or not, here at Upper Westside KAP and Psychoanalysis we firmly believe that every one of us has the potential to live a life of our choosing, and we provide a safe and confidential environment in which you will be actively and creatively listened to, and then provided the feedback, guidance, and emotional support needed to move your life in new directions.