At Transcend, all of our therapists are ‘Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy’ trained providers.
Many clinics offer Ketamine infusions or injections - we take this a step further and use Ketamine not as a treatment modality by itself but as an accelerant for therapy.
IV Ketamine administration has significant benefits for the treatment of mood disorders and chronic pain conditions. The longevity of the symptom reduction has always been the most significant issue with Ketamine treatment.
Research shows that when Ketamine is used, not as a treatment by itself but as an accelerant for the psychotherapy process, the process yields greater results, and results that don’t just fade away like traditional Ketamine treatment often does. Rather, therapeutic gains build upon themselves, especially with continued therapy.
Administering Ketamine
At our clinic, to facilitate Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, we administer Ketamine intravenously in such a way that permits most clients to continue talking to our therapists during the infusion. Administering Ketamine in this way brings depth to the session that may take years to get to through more traditional therapeutic approaches.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is useful in the process of discovering and healing unresolved core issues and past trauma, and possibly addressing suicidal thinking patterns.
If you have a therapist currently, our therapists are not here to replace them, our therapists are here to help you specifically with integrating what comes up for you during your Ketamine infusion experiences. However, if you would like to continue seeing our therapists’ after your infusions are complete you’re welcome to do so.
We will pair you with one of our therapists that we think will be the best match for you based on their specific specialty and what you’re seeking treatment for. You will get the opportunity to speak with them, get to know them, and review your history and goals with them. If you do not mesh well with the therapist, you can always speak with another one on staff.
Schedule Your First Session
After our therapist and our physician agree that you are prepared and ready, we will schedule your first session.
Some clients benefit from having 1-4 preparatory sessions prior to the first Ketamine infusion, but some may feel ready to start right away. Each client is unique in what they need and desire.
Everyone requires a different amount of total sessions, which is largely influenced by the severity and nature of their condition, but most patients will complete 3-8 sessions. The average at Transcend is 6 sessions.
At Transcend we do not believe that most patients will require “maintenance” infusions. Some clinics will advise that patients come in and get Ketamine booster treatments once or twice a month. In those cases, the patient may have only experienced the neurochemical benefits of Ketamine without the long term therapeutic breakthrough gains from Ketamine assisted psychotherapy. With Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, patients generally find that just following up with a therapist is all that is required.
We believe that if you are considering Ketamine treatment, the best way to go through this process is with a therapist that is trained on how to work with these states of consciousness and to not go into it alone.
Ketamine can bring up many things for people and it is best to have the support of a therapist if any of those things are disturbing. Just like regular therapy, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy can be challenging at times. Just like regular therapy, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy can sometimes increase symptoms slightly a day or so after a treatment. We don’t believe that anyone should be without increased therapeutic support when they go through those times.
Some patients do benefit from having regular therapy sessions in between Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy sessions with their regular therapist or their therapist from Transcend. We will know how necessary integration sessions like this are for each client as they progress through the series of infusions. We don’t believe in rushing through this process. Generally, patients will do 3-4 infusions close together in the first few weeks, but we often start increasing time between infusions after these initial sessions. Most patients proceed through Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy sessions once a week after the initial 3-4 infusions. Some patients with more severe symptoms or suicidal thoughts may do 6 sessions in 3 weeks. Every patient deserves an individualized plan of care at Transcend because no two people are exactly the same.
If the idea of working with a therapist does not appeal to you, understand that our therapists will only engage in as much therapy as you would like. Our therapist can serve as a supportive person or a guide if that is all that is wanted.
More specific questions about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy can be asked directly to the therapist during a scheduled intake session. Call 1(833) 313-2512 to book an intake session with one of our therapists.
We are here to answer your questions regarding ketamine assisted therapy.
Ketamine Infusion Therapy/Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is ideal for people suffering from treatment resistant depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations, OCD, PTSD and chronic pain conditions with no relief from other medications or therapeutic interventions.
Ketamine is a very short acting medication. Generally speaking, any side effect experienced from Ketamine will be short-term and will subside after the infusion has stopped. It can be normal to have slight increases in blood pressure and heart rate during an infusion. A small percentage of patients do experience some nausea during or right after the infusion. Nausea, elevated blood pressure and heart rate are easily managed through IV medications during the session should these arise. Most patients who do not eat for three hours prior to the session, and keep their eyes closed or use eyeshades during the session, will not experience any nausea.
In high doses and/or with very frequent administration Ketamine can be irritating to the bladder. For the purposes of facilitating KAP, doses of ketamine are low and most patients will only do one or two sessions per week. In this dosing and frequency there is an extremely low risk of developing bladder irritation caused by the administration of Ketamine. We have never had a patient develop bladder issues from this treatment at our clinic.
During your medical intake, we will determine if you need to alter your medication regimen prior to treatment. There are only a few medications that should be altered prior to initiating treatment. For instance, stimulant medications, benzodiazepines, and medications like Lamictal may need to be held or adjusted prior to treatment.
We request that you don't eat a meal within 3 hours of the start of your appointment time.
After receiving a ketamine infusion, it is normal to feel slightly tired or loopy for several hours. It would be unsafe to drive after a session so we do require that you arrange a family/friend to pick you up or utilize a taxi or other ride service.
It is best to provide time to fully process the therapeutic content that may have been worked through in the session. We encourage our clients to journal and integrate in the time following the session.
At Transcend, it is our goal to have this treatment be a highly transformative, short term intervention for you.
One of the reasons to undergo the KAP process with a therapist vs. receiving Ketamine infusion or injection-only is because most people are able to avoid needing maintenance treatment long-term with KAP. When symptom reduction has occurred through the chemical effects of ketamine only, there is often a need to re-administer ketamine every 20-30 days to keep symptoms at bay. With KAP, symptom reduction is more often secondary to therapeutic progress which does not dwindle in time, and therefore maintenance treatments are often not required.
The majority of our clients will reach sub-clinical levels of distress after an average of 6-10 sessions. Most of our clients will discharge from our care after these sessions and won't need any form of maintenance therapy. Some people do benefit from revisiting KAP intermittently throughout the year following the initial series as needed to continue therapeutic progress but this is not the most common treatment plan at Transcend.
For chronic pain treatment, it is more difficult to keep baseline pain levels down and flare-ups without maintenance infusions ongoing. The majority of patients with chronic pain will do sessions every 30-90 days to keep the baseline pain levels reduced.
You can expect to be at the clinic for approximately 2 hours. There are many factors that influence the length of the infusion but most patients will receive a 35-50 minute ketamine infusion. Your Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy trained therapist and a registered nurse will be by your side throughout your entire time during the infusion. Your therapist will be with you before to help set goals for the session, during for guidance and processing, and after for continued therapy, integration, and reflection.
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