Industry Insider Question: What is the difference between Ketamine therapy at a medical clinic vs. in a private practice therapy office?

The main difference between infusion clinics and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is the depth of relationship between provider and client.  Some ketamine clinics have ketamine treatment models that centralize the ketamine medicine, without the guidance of a therapist or a therapeutic process-these are referred to as infusion clinics.  It’s therefore important to ask if mental health therapy is provided before, during, or after the ketamine medicine. For more info on the process of interviewing a potential ketamine provider check out this article I wrote on the subject, as well as the Ketamine Consumer Checklist I’ve created.

Another main difference is that most infusion clinics will use an IV for administering the medicine.  This would be a needle that gets inserted into the arm by a nurse or doctor.  In a private practice therapist’s office you will likely be using ketamine lozenges that dissolve under the tongue.  Many people wonder if the dose/strength/intensity of the IV, IM (intramuscular) or lozenge method is “better.”  What I have come to find is that all of these methods can be dosed up or dosed down, meaning that any of these methods of administration can offer a client the dissociated psychedelic experience that is also within the realm of being accessible for psychotherapy interventions.

In the ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP)  we work together to understand your history and learn about the aspects of your consciousness and lifestyle that are out of balance.  We will understand the behavior changes you are needing to create in your lifestyle or in long-withstanding traumas with lingering effects on your mind/heart/body. We work together in order to make small shifts in your life in the few weeks leading up to the ketamine medicine sessions.  The one-on-one therapy relationship is what builds the foundation for catering each ketamine treatment session to a unique theme and intention to transform and heal.  Integration sessions after the KAP experience are where we create structured practices and draw on community resources for you to maintain improved mood and motivation.

”What was broken in relationship, needs to be healed in relationship.”  It is my belief that the most transformational healing comes from working one-on-one with a therapist while using the medicine to enhance the process.