Ketamine & Psychedelic Assisted Therapy

We provide Ketamine treatment and therapy both in the office and in select cases, in-home treatment.  Our team follows strict safety protocols to ensure your care is optimal.

Ketamine therapy causes sensory alteration, meaning the way your feel and interpret your body senses as well as the way you experience the flow of thoughts are different for the duration of treatment, returning to normal afterwards.  This is is a part of the feeling of what is called dissociation, which  is a mental process involving a sense of disconnection from ones normal pattern of thoughts, feelings, and self.  This is a dose dependent experience, with low doses causing less and higher doses causing a more immersive experience.  It is described as dream-like, and represents the doorway of learning more about our normal patterns of thought and experience, and more importantly, learning how our normal patterns contribute to our mental health or physical blocks that get in the way of experiencing life more optimally.

Both intramuscular (IM) ketamine and intravenous (IV) ketamine treatment can be effective yet due to differences in how each is delivered, the same dose can be experienced differently, in terms of the speed of onset of medication effect, the level of psychedelic effect, and the length of time the medication takes to rise to peak experience, and the time it takes to fully resolve. You can achieve the same level of experience with either route, yet the dose of one route may be different than the dose of another route to achieve a comparable psychedelic experience. Regardless of route, ketamine continues to have a positive effect (e.g the antidepressant effect) after the psychedelic portion of treatment effect wears off (the same day).

When used under strict medical supervision, ketamine is not considered to be highly addictive. Ketamine, as with any rapid-acting, symptom-relieving medication, if inadequately supervised by a medical professional, holds a potential for misuse and addiction.  This is why independent or recreational use is not advised and why ketamine treatment is optimal when combined with other interventions designed to together, bring about more complete and sustained mental health improvement. Effective ketamine treatment, as with many mental health interventions should lead one to feel that they need it less and less because symptom improvement is sustained. This is our goal.

The psychedelic effects that you feel can last between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours.  It takes a bit longer to be fully broken down by your body.  For a single dose, ketamine has a relatively short half-life of approximately 2.5 hours. However, its primary metabolite (what ketamine is broken down into), norketamine, can be detected for a longer period. Ketamine can be detected in the urine up to 11 days and norketamine, up to 14 days after a single therapeutic administration.

Insurance coverage of Ketamine depends on ketamine type and clinical circumstance.  Spravato (esketamine) is an FDA-approved intranasal form of ketamine that dependent on one’s insurance coverage, can be covered if you have treatment resistant depression and meet treatment criteria (e.g. tried and failed two prior antidepressants).  Non-insurance covered ketamine treatment includes intravenous, intramuscular, sublingual, and intranasal (racemic) ketamine.  All have extensive research data to showing they can be helpful for mental health.  Our expert team can discussed these with you to determine which is right for you.

Treatment rates vary based on ketamine type, mode of delivery, and treatment number. We offer several different packages, which our team will discuss with you to determine which can be of maximal benefit for you and your unique circumstance. See our pricing page for a detailed breakdown.

Ketamine acts broadly across the brain and body yet it’s role in mental health treatment is related to its effect upon particular brain cells and brain areas that are known to be involved in depression and anxiety.  Effects upon these areas can lift depressive/anxiety symptoms (or mental blocks generally) as well as raise the brains capacity for new brain cell connection, as well as enhanced efficiency of brain cell function.  This can begin to undo the effect that stress, depression, and anxiety has had upon brain function, allowing you to experience a new, mentally clearer normal.  The dissociative effects experienced while ketamine is active in your system can grant you access to new ways of thinking, about yourself and your life circumstance, a catalyst for improvement of mental health.

Ketamine is an anesthetic that has been used in medicine since it was first approved by the FDA in 1970.  It has been studied and used in clinical settings extensively.  Expert clinical evaluation before treatment is advised to ensure that you do not have any medical conditions, take any medications, or have any aspects of your clinical history that would need to be discussed before deciding whether ketamine is right for you.  The degree of temporary mind-altering and body sensation altering effects depend on dose and achieving mental health improvement from this experience, also depends on precision in dose selection.  Our team provides standard of care ketamine treatment and will work with you to determine optimal dose, optimal treatment protocol, and will tailor the level of ketamine experience to your specific needs to help you achieve the mental health benefits you seek.

Ketamine treatment can for some, cause an unwanted side effect of nausea.  It is standard across ketamine treatment centers to give an anti-nausea medication along with ketamine treatment to minimize this.  Ketamine also has the known effects of temporarily elevating blood pressure and heart rate as well and temporarily altering to how you experience your thoughts and sensations.  Regarding blood pressure and heart rate, this fluctuates for everyone throughout the day, every day, so these temporary increases will for most, not fall outside of the range of normal, like someone taking a brisk walk.  Some however may have pre-existing medical conditions that render them sensitive to blood pressure fluctuations (e.g. some cardiovascular or kidney diseases).  If this is you, you may still be able to have ketamine treatment, yet our team will discuss whether ketamine treatment is right for you.  In such cases, a medical clearance from your Primary Care Physician may be requested before proceeding with treatment.  Regarding temporary alteration of thoughts and senses while ketamine is in your system, your state of mind going into treatment, and the dose influence how you experience this.  Our team will ensure these factors are optimized to ensure you see the benefits you are looking for during an experience that is fully tolerable.  As ketamine leaves your system, you were return to your normal experience of thoughts and senses.

There is no way to guarantee a positive dissociative experience. However there are things we can do beforehand to set you up for success. Oftentimes, anxiety about the ketamine experience can lead to what is known as a “bad trip,” exacerbating feelings of distress and paranoia. We always recommend patients spend some time setting their intentions before a session, as this can induce a calmer and more open mindset.

Environment also plays a significant role in the ketamine experience. Here at Hudson Mind, our patients receive ketamine in a minimal room, intentionally designed with comfortable furniture and soft lighting.

A k-hole refers to a ketamine experience involving intense feelings of dissociation so different than your normal experience of your mind and body that it is markedly disorienting.  This typically is due to a dose that is high for you, causing a level of experience that you are not ready for.  Through precision in dose selection and coaching our team will minimize the chance of this being occurring in your treatment. If you have experienced this before it doesn’t mean that ketamine isn’t right for you.  Rather, it means that care is needed to understand the factors leading to this past experience so that we can craft a treatment plan that better suited for your needs and that will ultimately be much more tolerable.

Ketamine therapy has shown promise in the treatment of bipolar depression, and select research studies have demonstrated its potential antidepressant effects and capacity to depressed specific depressive symptoms such as suicidal ideation, anhedonia, and anxiety.   Further research is needed clarify its role in treatment.