Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)

What is KAP?

We are very excited to offer Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP). Ketamine, used in this way, is currently the only legal form of Psychedelic Medicine available in the United States. With Oregon and the US experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis, Ketamine therapy has the potential to help many individuals. Both from it’s pharmacological properties and as a psychedelic experiential aid, it can help a patient gain insight and accelerate integration towards recovery from various mental health disorders*.

Ketamine is a traditionally used as an anesthetic for surgery. A nasal spay isomer of ketamine, “Spravato”, was recently approved by the FDA for treatment of resistant depression and is being studied as a treatment for migraine headaches.

In recent years, many Intravenous Ketamine Clinics have opened to serve the much needed void of effective therapies for mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD and other trauma related disorders*.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), combines the pharmacological benefits of Ketamine, such as used in the ketamine IV clinics, along with the “emergence” psychedelic experience, which can potentiate the patient to gain insight into life issues, relationships, sense of self and a sense of spiritual connectedness. This is especially true when it is paired with integration psychotherapy. It can help the patient make accelerated progress toward better outcomes with depression, anxiety, PTSD and addiction.

Ketamine can help patients:

gain insight into relationships to self and others
enhance creative problem solving by allowing the patient to view their life from different vantage points
assist to gain a sense of empathy, self-love, and compassion
give the patient a break from normal everyday mental chatter, existential anxiety, and relief from depression
give the patient a powerful experience of a non ordinary state of conscioussness that can assist in deep healing, leading to a greater sense of awareness, connectedness and understanding of the patients unique contribution to the world.

What does the program of KAP look like?

Our providers will meet with the patient and do a full initial intake including a physical exam and preliminary labs. If a patient is coming in with a pre-existing diagnosis we will treat based on that, but if no formal diagnosis has been made, our providers will do a workup & assessment to determine diagnosis and eligibility for KAP.

We will then have anywhere between 2-6 preparation visits depending on where the patient is in their healing process, level of insight, and whether any health modifying treatment needs to be done prior to initiating therapy. These are necessary to establish trust and a good therapeutic alliance with your provider prior to doing the Ketamine sessions.

Patients then generally go through a course of 6 sessions of Ketamine 1-2 x week with integrative counseling sessions in between Ketamine sessions.

During Ketamine sessions, patients are placed in a comfortable environment, given an eye-mask and headphones to encourage an “internal experience” with music. Ketamine’s psychedelic experience and deep inner work is best accomplished this way. Dr. Rogers will be in the room to watch over and support/assist as needed.

Sublingual Ketamine troches will be administered in a dosage determined by and previously agreed upon by both patient and doctor. The Ketamine is absorbed directly through the mouth and intestinal tract. Patients typically descend into the Ketamine experience in 15 to 30 minutes. The experience can last between 45 minutes to 2 hours. Afterward, the Dr. will help the patients to record their experience to aid in integration therapy.

What is the experience of Ketamine “emergence”?

Table 1 showing the emergence effects of ketamine at various dosage ranges.

Table 1 is taken from:

Ketamine Psychedelic Psychotherapy: Focus on its Pharmacology,
Phenomenology, and Clinical Applications
Authors
Eli Kolp, Harris L. Friedman, Evgeny Krupitsky, Karl Jansen, Mark Sylvester, M. Scott Young, and Anna Kolp

What is the cost of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy?

Each KAP session costs $435 for a 3 hour session. A series of KAP treatments is generally 6 sessions. Sliding scale is available for certain qualifying individuals. The cost of the compounded ketamine troches are $105 for whole series.

Insurance may cover intake sessions and/or integration psychotherapy.

Integration Therapy

This is arguably the most important part of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. After Ketamine sessions, the physician will record your initial pertinent experiences with the medicine. The patient is then encouraged to journal any insights that occurr in the following days after a ketamine session. Processing this material in the follow up integration sessions with your therapist can help solidify new attitudes, perceptions and impetus for positive changes that need to be made in the patient’s life in order to make the shifts that will enable these changes to be more impactful and long lasting.

If you believe you have a mental health condition that you, your medical provider, or your mental health provider believes may benefit from Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, give our office a call to find out if you may be a good candidate. We can provide co-therapy counseling in the office, but patients for KAP must be receiving counseling or psychotherapy to help integrate the experience Ketamine provides. We welcome referrals from other healthcare and mental health providers.

*These statement have not been approved by the FDA