FROM JOURNEY CLINICAL:

Of all the psychedelic medicines, the most studied has been ketamine. Ketamine is a legal, safe, and effective medicine used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD (source: MAPS). Ketamine has rapidly-acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects, which can begin to take effect within 1-2 hrs. Ketamine helps form new synaptic connections and boosts neural circuits that regulate stress and mood. Ketamine has also been shown to enhance overall neuroplasticity for lasting symptom improvement. Ketamine can be delivered in various ways, including IV infusion, intramuscular injection, via nasal spray and sublingual tablets (at Journey Clinical, only the sublingual lozenge form is used).

Over the last several decades, ketamine’s record of clinical safety in ER, outpatient, and psychiatric settings has produced an extensive body of clinical evidence that supports its safety for use in psychotherapeutic settings (source: Dore et al, 2018).  Leveraging ketamine as an adjunct to psychotherapy, also known as Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) has been particularly effective in significantly improving clinical outcomes.  A 2018 study by Jennifer Dore et al. which examined outcomes from three psychotherapy practices using Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for hundreds of patients for several years concluded that KAP is “an effective method for decreasing depression and anxiety in a private practice setting, especially for…those with severe symptom burden” (source: Dore et al, 2018).