The Psychedelic Support team has created a comprehensive library of free resources. We want you to stay informed and updated on everything psychedelic. But of course, this can be overwhelming with our growing number of articles about ketamine and psychedelics. So, we created this list of our best articles about ketamine to make your learning journey easier. Happy reading!
But first, let’s briefly talk about ketamine and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic initially developed for use in surgery and pain management. It produces a trance-like state with pain relief, sedation, and memory loss. Researchers have found that at lower doses, ketamine has rapid-acting antidepressant effects, making it a valuable tool in psychiatric treatment.
KAP combines the administration of ketamine with psychotherapy sessions. The process typically involves preparation, ketamine administration, therapy sessions, and integration. KAP has shown promise in treating various mental health conditions, including depression, PTSD, and anxiety, particularly in patients who have not responded to traditional treatments.
1. How Ketamine Treatment Works
This article is an excellent introduction to ketamine. It helps you understand two important things before diving into how ketamine treatment works. It describes what ketamine is, the three primary treatment methodologies, and their differences.
Of our articles about ketamine, this one helps you understand how ketamine works best for you. It gives an honest take on ketamine’s grey area and discusses whether it is for pain or spirit.
Understand How Ketamine Treatment Works
2. Ketamine Treatment Guide for Mental Health
If you’re looking for a deep dive into ketamine as a treatment for mental health, this is the guide for you. It begins with a brief history lesson on how ketamine came from the streets to psychotherapy offices.
Then, it describes what goes into Ketamine-Assisted Therapy and what ketamine does to your brain (pharmacology). It discusses the positive and negative effects, gives a list of clinical trial publications of ketamine therapeutic use, and testimonials from ketamine patients and therapists.
Read Psychedelic Support’s Ketamine Treatment Guide for Mental Health
3. Who Can Benefit From Ketamine Therapy
Given ketamine’s interesting history, some might think of ketamine as a horse tranquilizer or party drug. However, it’s become an important treatment for various mental health conditions.
Of our articles about ketamine, this one gives a summary of the diagnoses that have been most responsive to ketamine therapy, including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. It also discusses who ketamine therapy is not appropriate for.
Discover Who Can Benefit From Ketamine Therapy
4. KAP: Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy With Dr. James Woods
Dr. James Woods has practiced medicine for over 30 years, mostly in community and rural health clinics. He is now retired, but he was a physician who specialized in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). Dr. Wood wrote this article to help you understand about the present and future of ketamine. He describes how he discovered KAP, its applications, and his thoughts on complementing KAP healing and early interventions.
Learn About KAP: Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy With Dr. James Woods
5. The Ketamine Experience With Dr. Melanie Malloy of Ember Health
This article details the recorded video of a rich conversation with Dr. Melanie Malloy about the ketamine experience. Dr. Malloy is an emergency medicine-trained physician who brings a patient-empowerment lens and a philosophy of holistic care to the therapeutic ketamine experience.
She describes how ketamine is very different from traditional antidepressants and why she believes empowerment and optimal well-being will have the most impact on mental health. Dr. Malloy said:
“I want every patient who undergoes ketamine therapy or psychedelic therapy to be under the care of somebody who is immediately available to help support them through what can be very scary or a difficult experience.”
Explore The Ketamine Experience With Dr. Melanie Malloy of Ember Health
6. What I Wish I’d Known Before Ketamine Therapy
Olivia Clear, APCC psychedelic integration therapist, provides mental health services, including clinical counseling and art therapy. In this insightful article, she describes her personal experience of her first ketamine therapy session, including the importance of boundaries, why music matters, and the ongoing work after therapy. Olivia said:
“Remember that your journey will be different from mine and everyone else’s. In my experience, the only thing predictable about working with ketamine is its lack of predictability. Having experienced multiple ketamine sessions at this point, I know it is not possible or desirable to plan for everything.”
Read Olivia Clear’s What I Wish I’d Known Before Ketamine Therapy
7. Ketamine Caution — Potential Benefits, Potential Risks
There has been substantial evidence showing the potential benefits of ketamine in treating different conditions; however, it is not a miracle drug. Of our articles about ketamine, this one helps patients manage expectations by discussing the risks and ethical guidelines of this treatment and compares Esketamine vs KAP. Currently, there is still no consensus about how much or how often ketamine should be used for mental health purposes.
Get Informed About Ketamine Caution — Potential Benefits, Potential Risks
8. Ethical Ketamine Treatment With Dr. Manoj Doss
Dr. Manoj Doss is the Founder and Medical Director of the Institute for Integrative Therapies, or IIT, the first psychedelic medicine clinic in Minnesota. Watch, listen, and read what Dr. Doss has to say about creating the future of psychedelic therapy that includes ethical ketamine treatment. Below, he describes the bio-psycho-spiritual model that he and his team use in ketamine treatment.
“Bio is the [patient] and the ketamine, psycho is the psychological integration support that the patients go through with their therapist, and spiritual is the transpersonal journey that the patients go on.”
Learn About Ethical Ketamine Treatment with Dr. Manoj Doss
9. Safe Ketamine Treatment With Dr. Steven Mandel
Dr. Steven Mandel has more than 40 years of experience utilizing ketamine as a board-certified anesthesiologist. He is an internationally recognized expert and pioneer in the use of ketamine infusion therapy to treat mental health disorders and chronic pain.
Psychedelic Support had the opportunity to chat with him about safe ketamine treatment. He discusses how he created standards to support healing through the field of ketamine infusions for mental health. He shares his thoughts about increasing access to ketamine treatment:
“If I had a magic wand, I would have all those who reimburse for insurance companies realize that this is a compassionate and economically affected decision. If they are paying for Prozac, Zoloft, and Ambien, they should be paying for people’s ketamine infusions. It saves lives. It actually will reduce ultimate claim costs. It’s the only reasonable thing to do for the subscriber who has paid his/her premiums.”
Discover Safe Ketamine Treatment With Dr. Steven Mandel
10. Want to Know More About Ketamine Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder?
How do you know if ketamine therapy for alcohol use disorder is right for you? This one of our articles about ketamine will help you find out. It is part of a blog series about psychedelic therapies helping alcohol use disorder. Describing the history of ketamine and its complicated future, the article includes how it evolved from “K-hole” hysteria to being used as a mental health intervention.
It highlights the findings from the article “Ketamine Can Reduce Harmful Drinking by Pharmacologically Rewriting Drinking Memories.” Furthermore, it summarizes the clinical findings, current trials, and future research suggestions in looking at ketamine therapy for alcohol use disorder.
Explore More About Ketamine Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder
11. Coming to Terms With Ketamine’s Addictive Potential
Ketamine is being used to effectively treat anxiety, PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, and various addictions. However, ketamine’s addictive potential is higher than classic psychedelics. Of our articles about ketamine, this one discusses why that is and how ketamine’s addictive potential is related to physical and psychological dependence. It describes the negative effects of ketamine addiction, including symptoms of ketamine bladder syndrome.
Get the Latest on Coming to Terms With Ketamine’s Addictive Potential
12. Improving Ketamine Mileage
Want to learn how to get the most out of every ketamine treatment? Dr. Erica Zelfand shares some simple ways to improve ketamine mileage. The article shares what to bring to a ketamine session, such as an eye mask and a blanket. It gives tips about what to do during a ketamine experience, including why you should bring a friend and ignore your phone. Lastly, the article discusses integration after the session and offers prescription advice.
Learn About Improving Ketamine Mileage
13. Ketamine Therapy vs Therapeutic Ketamine Infusion
Sometimes, clients are confused when they find out they are going to receive ketamine treatment. They may be wondering if they’re receiving just a ketamine infusion or if it includes therapy. This article explains the difference between ketamine therapy and therapeutic ketamine infusion. It clarifies and defines the term ‘therapeutic’ for ketamine infusion and explains why that often creates confusion for consumers of mental healthcare, other clinicians, and communities interested in psychedelics for medicinal and healing use.
Understand Ketamine Therapy vs Therapeutic Ketamine Infusion
14. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Online
Telemedicine has been around for years. However, the COVID pandemic presented the world with an opportunity to offer psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy online. This article discusses three dimensions of virtual ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and its ups and downs:
- Accessibility for Ketamine-assisted Psychotherapy Online
- Safety for Ketamine-assisted Psychotherapy Online
- Support System for Ketamine-assisted Psychotherapy Online
Read About Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Online
15. Five Important Lessons We Can Learn From Ketamine Commercialization
When ketamine was made therapeutically available in the United States, the rise in popularity and commercialization changed the standards of ketamine treatment. This article explores the important lessons from this evolution, including the potential consequences of “watered-down” research methods and the lack of consensus among experts regarding standards of care. This exploration is an essential read for those who advocate for safe, high-quality, accessible psychedelic therapies.
Explore Five Important Lessons We Can Learn From Ketamine Commercialization
We hope you gained valuable insights into ketamine, its treatments, risks and benefits, and how the future will look for this drug.
