The Ketamine Psychedelic Experience; The Shocking Science Behind One of The Most Effective Treatments for Healing Trauma
Ketamine is fast becoming one of the best medicinal treatments for healing both depression and trauma.
First, let’s start with the basics. What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is a legal medical hallucinogen and anesthetic, known for its effects of altering the conscious mind for short periods of time. When prescribed Ketamine, a person might experience changes in perception, thoughts, and the physical body for an average of 60-90 minutes at a time for the original experience and having lasting relaxation effects for up to 5 days afterwards. The therapeutic benefits can last a lifetime.
Can anyone get Ketamine?
No. Ketamine is only available as a prescription medication and should only be used in combination with a trained professional who will help you get the best outcome from your experience.
What are the medical benefits?
Ketamine has been proven effective to quickly treat and heal Major Depressive Disorder and PTSD. (Liriano, Hatten, and Schwartz 2019) That’s really exciting for those of you who have spent countless hours (or years) in therapy, week after week, not making progress. Or, making progress so slowly that it’s barely perceptible. Ketamine treatment works tremendously well in combination with psychotherapy, enhancing the effects in a rapid manor.
How does it work?
The basics are that Ketamine disrupts your normal brain patterns, which opens you up to new ideas and habits. It is important to set intentions before an experience, as this is your opportunity to break out of those old habits that have held you back in life!
Do you have a habit of thinking thoughts that are self-depreciating? Can they be hurtful to yourself or others, making your life harder? Ketamine breaks those thoughts up and helps grow new neural networks in your brain, allowing you to create the kinds of thinking patterns you want in your life. The ones that will be helpful, rather than hurtful. Patterns that will help you create the life you dream of.
On top of that, Ketamine helps enhance psychotherapy. It accelerates spiritual and psychological growth, as well as enhancing positive outlooks in life and improving capacity for social interactions.
Here’s how it works: Ketamine enters your system typically via lozenge, and sometimes via an injection, and immediately gets to work creating dissociation (separation) from your limbic system (your fear center) to your neocortex (your higher functioning). With your fear center temporarily shut down, your higher self can really get to work. New neural networks are built, and once strengthened, lead to long term, healthy habits, all led by you and your unique goals.
Creating new neural networks is kind of a big deal!
Think of neural networks like roads and highways. The ones that are used the most over time become highways. If you have a habit of thinking ‘I’m not safe’ or ‘I’m not enough’, these patterns of thinking become so powerful over time that they become like superhighways. With Ketamine, you have the opportunity to disrupt these superhighways, temporarily shutting them down and building new pathways like, ‘I am safe, now’ or ‘I always try my hardest, and that’s enough.’ Imagine how your life could change if those new thoughts became your superhighways, dominating your thoughts, rather than the unhelpful ones? It would be lifechanging!
Last, the opportunity to actually grow new neural networks is big. It’s well known that the brain has neuroplasticity, meaning it’s always changing, BUT it’s known for only changing a little, tiny bit as an adult – as opposed to childhood, when the brain is constantly changing and developing. The opportunity to make these developmental changes as an adult is huge. Most kids don’t know what the best version of themselves is yet; they are following the directions of the adults in their life. Imagine if you could be in charge of changing those developmental patterns now, as an adult, with all of your learned wisdom over the years. You could truly create the life you want.
Scientific results:
Last, I’ll leave you with some research results. Multiple Ketamine studies have been conducted and the general implications are that Ketamine reverses the effects of trauma. Trauma responses to triggers or activators are reduced dramatically following treatment. PTSD symptoms such as irritability, intrusive thoughts, social isolation, mistrust, and fear are lessened considerably. Ketamine has also been shown effective at lessening depressive symptoms and reducing helplessness, depressed mood, and social avoidance. The best part is that by using Ketamine, these effects increase over time, leading to lasting change.
Conclusion:
Psychedelics have been used for thousands of years to treat mental health challenges. We are just starting to bring it back to the mainstream in medicine, and it’s coming back in a big way! Many states in the US are now recognizing the profound medical impacts of Ketamine and other psychedelics. In Colorado, a new law is being proposed, which would allow for additional psychedelic drugs such as psylocibin if used in a medical setting with a certified psychedelic professional and a psychotherapist present to support your growth in a safe and structured environment. Ketamine has been legal for years now (since 1970) and widely accepted for its medical implications. For more information on attending a Ketamine wellness retreat with trained staff, visit https://www.calmingmindcounseling.com/wellness-retreats
Ketamine is not the end, it’s the beginning of your healing journey.
Citations:
Revisiting the Hallucinogenic Potential of Ketamine
June 25, 2018
David S. Mathai, MD , Sanjay J. Mathew, MD , Eric A. Storch, PhD , Thomas R. Kosten, MD
Psychiatric Times, Vol 35, Issue 6, Volume 35, Issue 6
Ketamine as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder: a review
2019 Apr 8. doi: 10.7573/dic.212305
PMCID: PMC6457782
PMID: 31007698
Felix Liriano, Candace Hatten, MD, and Thomas L Schwartz, MD
Out of the Blue Integrative Wellness, www.outofthebluerecovery.com