Amplifying psychotherapy with an impactful pharmacological tool
Carefully prescribed ketamine is a legal, safe, and effective medicine used as an adjunct to the psychotherapeutic process. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is particularly transformative when standard pharmacological treatments alone have not been effective. For most people, the combined approach amplifies the impact and durability of psychotherapy.
A “Bio-Psycho-Social” approach considers contextual contribution and relational consequences of “dis-ease” and “dis-order.” It also explores wellbeing and strength-based resiliency factors. Automatic patterns and unresolved historical wounds that sustain life problems can become locked in place. This state of being can block access to inner resources and limit the expression of our best qualities.
KAP with Essensuate Psychology Group is partnership in self discovery. Our clients chart an active personal change path that stems from calibrating the mind and the body in context to others and the world. and intelligence deepens somatic experience, expands cognitive flexibility, and facilitates clarity of meaning and purpose.
Collaborative Medical Partners
Partnership with “psychotherapy-forward” prescribers”
interprofessional care-team collaboration
client-centered commitment
research-based practice
harm reduction philosophy
Prescribing Partnerships
Coordination with leading medical specialists in their respective fields
Ketamine is a legal, safe, and effective medicine
With a thorough eligibility review of each client, our medical affiliates ensure that KAP is a safe choice. Once cleared by physical medicine specialists, ketamine is prescribed in a controlled manner. Sessions and outcomes are monitored; Medical partners and psychotherapists maintain open, cross-disciplinary, communication.
It is critically important for KAP clients to make informed choices about their care. The standard-of-care modes of Ketamine administration include intravenous infusion (IV), intramuscular (IM), nasal spray, and oral methods with sublingual lozenges or rapidly dissolving tablets (RTD.) We trust each of our prescribers to work collaboratively with us regardless of the mode used in their practices. Each has its advantages and all typically invoke a rapidly-acting mood-enhancing quality that assists the psychotherapeutic process in treating a variety of mental health conditions, including treatment-resistant depression, disordered anxiety, chronic pain management, PTSD, complex grief, addiction, and other psychiatric conditions characterized by rigid thoughts or repetitive problematic repetitive behavior.
Psychopharmacology
Pharmacology in Brief
Ketamine has rapidly-acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects, which are experienced within a 2-3 hour session and after treatment for up to 2 weeks. It works by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptors as well as by stimulating AMPA receptors. The treatment helps form new synaptic connections and boost neural circuits that regulate stress and mood. Ketamine has also been shown to enhance overall “neuroplasticity” and even “neurogenesis” for lasting symptom improvement.
THERAPEUTIC NEUROGENESIS
In concert with strong therapeutic inner work, ketamine treatment can enhance the pace of transformational learning and action through the literal forging of new neuronal pathways. According to established and replicated clinical research, the brain-based pharmacological mechanism of action involves the enhancement of “neurogenesis” and neuroplasticity” during the post-dosing period. Active client engagement during this “open state window” is accentuated through coordinated psychotherapy.
What to expect
As an “amplifier,” medicine in the context of therapeutic partnership can help excavate and examine more rigid mindsets associated with traumatic or emotional wounds, repetitive thoughts, problem habits, and conflictual life patterns. The sensation is often described as a “pleasant,” short-term, expanded state of consciousness during which suppressed sensations and memories are more approachable and less alarming. Key insights and alternative choices tend to emerge through a series of encounters, including non-dosing preparation and integration sessions.
KETAMINE-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY (KAP)
Assess and Explore
…functional status, strengths, limitations, mindset, worldview, and context
Connect and Collaborate
…to identify realistic stepwise approaches
Prepare and Engage
…in customized transformative practice aligned with intentions
Activate and Integrate
…personalized day-to-day growth edges