Polaris Insight: Module 1, Introduction to Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) has recently emerged as one of the most innovative treatments for depression, particularly treatment resistant depression (TRD), and shows promise as well in treating anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological conditions. Integrating pharmacological, psychological, and archetypal/transpersonal elements, KAP represents a new synthesis (or hybrid model) of psychotherapy. Empirical results, particularly during the past decade, demonstrate that ketamine and KAP may be able to assist clinical populations whose symptoms and psychological issues have not been responsive to treatment by other means. At the same time, KAP holds promise for effective treatment of individuals with end of life anxiety, existential distress and less severe diagnoses.

The practice of KAP, including diverse dosing strategies, allows clinicians to craft intervention strategies at both the psycholytic (trance, self-reflective) and psychedelic (transformational/transpersonal) levels of experience. In this introductory module, we cover a wide range of topics to help clinicians understand the potential use and efficacy of KAP as well as other psychedelic medicines, and we present the current state of the art clinical models for these treatments. We also briefly cover recent promising lines of research in the field.