Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)
Combining ketamine's effects with psychotherapy to enhance emotional processing and neuroplasticity.
Benefits of Ketamine
Ketamine is a safe dissociative anesthetic that has been used for decades in medical settings, and is now being recognized for its potential to treat a variety of mental health conditions when used in a therapeutic environment.Ketamine also has a positive impact on the brain itself. Ketamine also stimulates the brain’s ability to form new neural connections, potentially leading to lasting positive changes.
Ketamine works by rewiring neural pathways to help you heal and grow. It targets the neurotransmitter glutamate, a different neurotransmitter than the ones typically impacted by antidepressants. Ketamine can cause the brain to undergo a period of openness and expansion called neuroplasticity where deeper emotional insights and personal growth becomes possible.
About Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is an innovative, evidence-based approach that combines the therapeutic benefits of Ketamine with traditional psychotherapy to help individuals overcome resistant depression, anxiety, OCD, and trauma. KAP involves the use of Ketamine in a clinical setting under the supervision of Licensed Psychotherapists who have a specific KAP certification.
During the session, Ketamine helps to disrupt negative thought patterns, allowing patients to experience a shift in their perception and emotional state. This altered state of consciousness is paired with psychotherapy, where the therapist guides the individual through conversations, reflections, and exercises to work through unresolved emotional issues, trauma, or mental health conditions. Ketamine works by gently bringing clients into an altered state of consciousness where processing difficult material may become easier. Clients also experience a psychedelic-like journey into deeper parts of themselves.
KAP Treatments at Synergy
Many Ketamine programs focus solely on administering Ketamine infusions. At Synergy, we combine Ketamine with Psychotherapy (as well as EMDR when appropriate) for the best possible outcome. Many clients have profound transformational experiences, and we are there to help them integrate the experience into their everyday life.
Sessions take place in a safe and supportive office environment, and the practitioner stays in the room during the entire KAP session to monitor progress and ensure the best outcome. The Psychotherapist administers the Ketamine treatment in the form of oral lozenges. We partner with Journey Clinical Psychiatrists and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners to provide a medical assessment to determine whether Ketamine would be beneficial for you. Journey Clinical determines the appropriate dose and mails the lozenges to your home which you bring with you to your KAP session at Synergy.
The felt experience of Ketamine is usually gentle, introspective and positive. Our clients often report sensations of weightlessness and a dreamlike state. Each session typically lasts 20-30 minutes but prepare to be in a Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy session for up to 3 hours including preparation, Psychotherapy, and relaxation afterward.
Some clients see improvement right after their first session. For others it can take a few more sessions to feel results. Research on KAP shows most clients experience 89% improvement after 4 sessions. In addition to immediate symptom relief, Ketamine can help create new neural connections, facilitate emotional healing and provide deeper insights that can lead to long lasting lifestyle changes.
