Our unique approach to using ketamine is in our combination of neurofeedback with ketamine assisted psychotherapy. With neurofeedback sessions preceding the initial dosing session we take advantage of non-linear neurofeedback to begin training the brain to understand that it has opportunity for change, moving from reactivity to responsiveness.

 

On ketamine dosing days, clients have neurofeedback followed by a short break and then the ketamine dosing session back to back. This takes advantage of the brain training of neurofeedback as well as the short and long-term effects of ketamine.

 

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic, commonly used in surgical settings for both the very young and the very old, and is very safe. While in surgical settings it is used to induce sleep, the off-label dosing in ketamine assisted psychotherapy is far less, only to induce dissociation, so that the client can gain a new perspective on the issues that bring them to this therapy.

 

While the short term experience of ketamine may be profound, sometimes referred to as an “out-of-body” experience, it is a non-ordinary state of consciousness that lasts only 35 to 45 minutes in most cases. While this is very effective in allowing the client to see their presenting issues from a different point of view, the more powerful effects are in the days immediately following ketamine dosing during the neuroplastic window of 3 to 7 days following ketamine dosing.

 

It is during this time that there is a stimulation of the reward and motivation systems of the brain as well as an attenuation of habitual defense mechanisms. This can lead to changes in mood and optimism and reduce conditioned fear responses, allowing a client to revisit trauma with less personal reactivity. Ketamine allows the client to experience themselves differently and work through past traumatic events with their therapist in between dosing sessions.

 

For more information on ketamine and other services, please call 615-207-1591