Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): Patient Demographics, Clinical Data and Outcomes in Three Large Practices Administering Ketamine with Psychotherapy

Dore J, Turnipseed B, Dwyer S, et al. · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2019

This paper describes Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), an approach in which ketamine is given alongside psychotherapy and its psychedelic qualities are treated as part of the therapeutic process rather than as unwanted side effects. The authors gathered demographic and outcome data from 235 patients across three private practices using similar methods, mostly without intravenous access. In this study, patients showed decreases in depression and anxiety, and the authors report the changes were especially notable for older patients and those with more severe symptoms. An honest limitation: this was an observational report from the treating practices themselves, with no control group or randomization, so it cannot show that KAP caused the improvements.

Our summaries describe what each study found. They are not medical advice, and the practices at Halcyon are not a treatment for any condition.