Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy - my PASSION!

As a psychologist I offer care and treatment in many modalities.  My passion is in the realm of psychedelic therapy, most specifically, Ketamine. 

Psychedelics are making their way out of the counterculture and back into the mainstream, with research and media interest in mind-altering substances growing substantially. Some have even called psychedelics “psychiatry’s brave new world.”

Ketamine is a medicinal drug developed for the battlefield of Vietnam for emergency triage purposes and is still used daily in every emergency room in the country as it is a very clean drug, easily metabolized by the body, leaving with few ill effects.Ketamine is not a true psychedelic (hallucinogen) but rather a dissociative medicine but can evoke a similarly colorful, dreamlike experience for patients and therefore falls under the umbrella of Psychedelic Medicine.
Ketamine works on a different neurotransmitter in the brain than oral medications prescribed for mental illness. Ketamine causes a flourish of new brain cell growth and opens communication within the brain, ultimately creating a calming effect that leaves patients feeling refreshed, renewed, centered. Patients note that they feel as though their brain was "RESET."

This flourish of new brain cell growth is how Ketamine is able to reduce the symptoms of mental imbalance so rapidly. Patients feel the effects as soon as a few hours to within 24 hours.

In our protocol, Ketamine is administered by IV or IM in an outpatient medical office setting.Upon decades of studies and testing, Ketamine was found to work rapidly for alleviating the symptoms of depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders, addiction, and many others.Ketamine can work MORE EFFECTIVELY than any oral prescription drug available on the market for improving symptoms of mental wellbeing. Please read that again because it is the BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGH in the treatment of mental health issues in the last 50 years. Ketamine Assisted PSYCHotherapy is a series of Ketamine infusion sessions with a clinical psychologist over the duration of a few weeks and is simply a game-changer for those who have been struggling with treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, PTSD, among other symptoms of mental imbalance. KAP is a really big deal, and we are not just saying that because we are offering this treatment.

Ketamine is approved by the FDA for use in children and adults for anesthesia and as a pain reliever during medical procedures. When administered in a low-dose infusion, ketamine is a medication that may provide relief of symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute and chronic pain. Ketamine’s use for the treatment of depression or other mental illnesses is off-label. Off-label use of medications is legal and very common. In fact, about one in five prescriptions written in the US today is off-label.

Numerous studies show that ketamine may be helpful in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. When administered by vein (called an infusion), ketamine may help improve symptoms rather quickly. Improvements may last several days up to a few months. A series of infusions is recommended so that symptom relief has a longer duration of action. While the goal is an improvement of symptoms, individual results cannot be guaranteed.
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic, when given at low doses during a therapy session, produces shifts in consciousness, from our ordinary mind-states, new perspectives of viewing life concerns. Psychotherapy offers real-time reflection on this experience to enhance growth and change.
Psychedelic treatments may offer relief to patients who have not experienced improvements with traditional psychiatric medications or may allow patients to engage in a small number of psychedelic interventions (KAP) rather than taking medications daily. In some cases, psychedelics may disrupt the conventional division between psychopharmacological approaches and psychotherapy. 

Ketamine combined with certain forms of breath-work, intentions and certain types of psychotherapy are showing to be cutting edge treatment for a variety of serious disorders.

Ketamine Assisted PSYCHotherapy (KAP). The role of the psychotherapist is critical in PSYCHedelic flight for the purpose of understanding how trauma is embedded and helping patients address and release these bundles of pain that have been causing a mental strain in the form of depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, eating disorders to name a few. 

BUT Please...Educate yourself. There is much confusion about KAP; there are misconceptions and downright fallacies about KAP, what it is, what it isn’t. KAP, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, is a legal, scientifically-backed medicinal treatment administered in a clinical setting by medical professionals for alleviating the symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, among other mental illness issues, just to name a few.

A licensed clinical psychologist trained in the treatment of trauma specifically and with the use of psychedelic, medications will make the transition from the ground to flight smooth and feel safe.
Patients who are left to fly without proper attendance and guidance may be retraumatized by their own memories and experience delayed healing as a result.
It is important to understand the role of each aspect of treatment, Ketamine does one thing, but the skill of the clinician really makes all the difference in not only safely guiding you back to earth but through your flight, helping patients interpret what their subconscious presents to them.
Lastly, the clinician provides the necessary tools for the last and largest component of healing, the self-help journey outside the clinic, next steps that each patient ultimately makes in their lives going forward with their new perspectives, understanding, and decisions about the healthy manner they will choose to employ going forward.   
Often, patients experience a change of perspective of acceptance that there are some things that are beyond our control, either in the past or in the future, and our life can continue forward in a positive way regardless.
It is not the role of the medicine or the psychologist to change your mind; it is through Ketamine, the improved health of the brain, the unveiling of the understanding of self, and knowing what lies ahead with self-confidence in this understanding.
Both my companies, Bickford Covington Psychology as well as All PSYCHedelic Health are here to help you in your healing... just an appointment away to CHANGE YOUR MIND.
#AllPSYCHedelicHealth 

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is available now at All PSYCHedelic Health in Redlands.