Questions about Ketamine?

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a holistic, transformative modality in which ketamine is used as a complement to psychotherapy for helping eligible patients experience more frequent breakthroughs and sustain improvement in symptom reduction. KAP is a partnership between a medical prescriber of ketamine and a licensed therapist. In our work together, Journey Clinical is the medical prescriber and Dr. Dana Girard is the licensed therapist.

It’s particularly effective for:

1. Depression and Treatment-Resistant Depression: Rapid relief from depressive symptoms, including for those who haven’t responded well to traditional antidepressants.
2. Anxiety and OCD: Helps interrupt thought loops, reduce anxiety, and create new perspectives on distressing thoughts.
3. PTSD and Trauma: Facilitates processing of traumatic memories in a less distressing way, often enhancing the effects of trauma therapy.
4. Addiction: Supports breaking habitual thought and behavior patterns, fostering a shift in perspective.

Ketamine is a legal, safe, and effective medicine used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, with rapidly- acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects. Ketamine works by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptors as well as by stimulating AMPA receptors, which are thought to help form new synaptic connections and boost neural circuits that regulate stress and mood.

Ketamine has also been shown to enhance overall neuroplasticity for lasting symptom improvement. Ketamine can be administered in a variety of ways, IV infusion, IM injection, nasal spray, and sublingual lozenges. In our work, we only use the sublingual lozenge form.

The effects of ketamine, which most patients find pleasant, can make you feel “far from” your body, and facilitate shifts in perception that can often feel expansive in nature. Your motor and verbal abilities will be reduced, so you’ll be lying down in a comfortable position during the experience. Once these effects subside, your psychotherapist will spend the remainder of your appointment giving you space to process and discuss your experience. While it may feel hard to articulate what happens during the experience, patients feel like the insights gained are clear and easily recalled.

In KAP, the dissociative effects of ketamine allow patients to access a state where they may feel more relaxed, connected, and open to therapeutic insights, which can deepen the impact of therapy:

• Accelerated Healing: Helps clients achieve insights and breakthroughs that might take years in traditional therapy
• Deep Emotional Release: Assists in processing and releasing deeply held trauma or emotional blockages
• Increased Self-Awareness: Supports clients in gaining clarity about their lives and patterns, promoting profound self-growth
• Enhanced Neuroplasticity: Encourages the brain to form new, healthier connections, making it easier to adopt positive changes
• Spiritual Insights: Often provides a sense of connection and meaning, which can be deeply empowering

The use of ketamine within a personal therapeutic relationship can help people better identify and work through difficult experiences and behavior patterns, providing new insights and healing that might not have been possible otherwise. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) may allow a person to gain access to the causes of their struggles that were previously outside
their awareness.

While there are providers that offer ketamine without therapeutic support, the safe container of the therapeutic relationship is crucial to supporting productive and transformative healing; especially in cases where relational dynamics are a part of presenting issues.

I provide Ketamine Assisted EMDR Therapy®, which is a prescribed low-dose (psycholytic) ketamine medicine that clients self-administer with direction from a licensed mental health provider. The dose is low enough to keep clients alert and engaged—unlike psychedelic or dissociative doses where people often “go inward” and can’t actively participate in therapy. Instead, the goal is to enhance emotional openness, reduce anxiety, and expand the window of tolerance, making it easier to work through difficult material in session. 

Ketamine is not provided or administered by the therapist. Collaboration with a prescribing medical professional is required and there will be additional costs associated with the medical evaluation and ketamine prescription. 

 Studies have shown that ketamine: 

• Enhances synaptic connectivity and neuroplasticity, helping the brain form new,  healthier patterns. 

• Reduces activity in the Default Mode Network (DMN)—the part of the brain involved in rumination and self-critical thinking—promoting a more mindful and open state of awareness. 

A recent pilot research study (Topel & Ciccone, 2025) 1 exploring the use of Ketamine Assisted EMDR Therapy® found that clients reported noticeable reductions in PTSD symptoms after several reprocessing sessions. In short, Ketamine Assisted EMDR Therapy® is a science-informed, trauma-sensitive approach that can support deep healing by enhancing the brain’s ability to update and release painful memories—without requiring a psychedelic experience. While these early findings are encouraging, more research is needed to confirm these results in larger and more diverse populations and in randomized controlled trials. 

A general starting guideline is to plan for six (6) to eight (8) experiential dosing sessions, although the total duration of treatment is dependent on the goals and type of change desired. The number and frequency of sessions are customized based on your needs and the insights you gain from each step of the process.

Like any other form of therapy, KAP is not a “once and done” process, even though a single experience may be profound and transformative. The work is divided into three phases: preparation, dosing, and integration. The goal of a preparation session is to collaboratively set intentions for deeper therapeutic work during the dosing session. The dosing session is a regular talking session with ketamine as an adjunct for creating a relaxed and open state that enhances emotional insight and self-reflection. The integration work takes advantage of the neuroplasticity window from ketamine to support personal discovery, growth, and lasting change.

KAP dosing sessions can be generally planned every two weeks, although a customized treatment plan and schedule may involve weekly or monthly sessions. Much of the change process happens after the dosing sessions, so allowing space for integration is a crucial part of KAP.

Yes, KAP may involve physical and psychological risks. Ketamine’s physical side effects are mostly short-term and may include nausea, increased heart rate, and disorientation. Ketamine, therapeutically used in controlled settings, can induce a range of psychological effects, including some which may be challenging or distressing. Intense emotional experiences, however, are a part of most forms of therapy that involve connecting with difficult emotional content. 

While effects can vary greatly among individuals, high doses of ketamine can induce intense emotional experiences, dissociation, altered perceptions, hallucinations, and in some cases exacerbate underlying conditions. With larger doses, called psychedelic dosing, you’d also experience a “dream-like state,” for an internal, transpersonal experience. This inward journey allows for powerful shifts in perspective, access to symbolic imagery, and emotional breakthroughs, which is supported by a clinician, but not a regular talking session until after the medication wears off. 

Our work together will only include lower doses of ketamine, a psycholytic dosing, which allows us to have a regular talking session for working on deeper issues. Psycholytic dosing offers a subtle shift in consciousness, creating a relaxed and open state that enhances emotional insight and self-reflection. Both dosing sessions have their own, deeply beneficial purposes and are therapeutic.

While ketamine has also been shown to have a lower dependency profile compared to other substances, there is still a risk of psychological dependence, especially with unsupervised or recreational use. Dependency can develop due to the drug’s rapid-acting antidepressant effects, leading individuals to seek repeated doses outside a therapeutic context. Both dosing sessions have their own, deeply beneficial purposes and have been therapeutic.

Journey Clinical Website: journeyclinical.com

Ziegler, M. (2016, Winter). Review of The Ketamine Papers: Science, Therapy, and Transformation edited by Phil Wolfson, M.D. and Glenn Hartelius, Ph.D.Maps.org 

Van Elk, M. & Yaden, D.B. (2022, September). Pharmacological, neural, and psychological mechanisms underlying psychedelics: A critical review sciencedirect.com

Loosening Up: The KA-EMDR® Podcast  Major podcast platforms (i.e., Spotify, YouTube, Apple) 

Ketamine Assisted EMDR Therapy® Institute ketamineassistedemdr.com  

Topel M. & Ciccone, D. (2025) 1.  Ketamine Assisted EMDR Therapy® for PTSD: Investigating the synergistic effects of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16:1, 2572861, DOI: 10.1080/20008066.2025.2572861   

doi.org

Yes, but only a portion of your session fees for accepted insurance plans; clients are responsible for the remaining session fees. For clients whose insurance plans are not accepted, I provide a superbill, detailing services provided, which might be reimbursable under your out-of-network benefits. It is up to your insurance provider to offer guidance on reimbursements.

Please see our pricing chart.

Here’s a guideline, but please contact me for further details:

KAP intake Assessment

• Review the KAP informed consent
• Discuss treatment plan and goals for KAP

Medical Consultation

• Review Medical and psychiatric history

KAP Treatment

• Dosing Session (experience ketamine as an adjunct to talk therapy)

Follow-up Medical Consultation

• Prescription refills/adjustments (as needed)