Ketamine assisted psychotherapy is an innovative treatment that has been shown to be effective for a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and more. This treatment involves the use of a low-dose infusion of ketamine, a medication that has been used safely for decades in anesthesia and pain management. Our team of experienced mental health professionals is here to provide you with personalized, evidence-based treatment that can help you achieve your mental wellness goals.
Ketamine was originally developed as an anesthesia drug in the 1960s and approved by the FDA in the 1970s for that purpose. It is now used to support mental health because it can balance specific neurotransmitters, generate stronger neural connections, and change how the brain regulates mood.
Researchers believe ketamine works on the neurotransmitter glutamate rather than serotonin, in contrast to many commonly prescribed antidepressants. Furthermore, ketamine encourages synaptic plasticity in the prefrontal cortex, which increases the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), supporting ketamine's antidepressant properties.
There are 2 different methods which ketamine is administered at Axis Integrated Mental Health.
Ketamine infusions are administered through an intravenous drip (IV) directly to the blood stream by a board-certified medical professional. Infusions normally last between 2-3 hours and your vitals are monitored to ensure a safe experience.
Spravato is a brand-name prescription nasal spray that contains esketamine, which is derived from ketamine. It is approved by the FDA for use with treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder and covered by insurance.
High-quality ketamine therapy providers require at least 2-hours to observe patients after administering ketamine to ensure safety. We can combine ketamine treatment with talk therapy (either in the second hour of the observation period or the following day) to process the ketamine experience and integrate it with your overall therapeutic journey.The ketamine-assisted psychotherapy session is an opportunity to explore metaphors, feelings, sensations, ideas, and symbols that arose during or after the session, as well as discuss ways to take your experience into your day-to-day life. Many people have found that therapy enhanced by ketamine leads to breakthroughs that help them to heal from trauma more effectively.
Therapy administered before, during, and after ketamine sessions can optimize and sustain the benefits of working with ketamine.
Ketamine assisted psychotherapy can enhance the brain’s ability to use different pathways (neural networks). These heightened abilities can encourage ease in learning to engage with your emotions as a source of wisdom about your experiences, connect sensations in the body with emotions, or develop a relationship to your emotional experiences that feels supportive and manageable.
Researchers are exploring how increased connectivity in the brain may allow greater access to traumatic memories as it may encourage enhanced flexibility to understand these memories in new ways and with less anxiety than they may usually elicit.
The combination of ketamine and therapy can feel supportive as symptoms of depression or anxiety are often rapidly reduced, allowing therapy to happen with a focus on the heart of the matter rather than on working to eliminate symptoms. Experiencing relief while simultaneously engaging in therapy can allow more spaciousness for developing insights and plans that encourage more rapid change, a heightened ability to be in the process, and a greater capacity to learn, grow, and change.
As a holistic, integrative psychiatry practice, we believe that helping people achieve their mental health goals is challenging when medicine and therapy are disconnected. We consider ketamine to be like a book, and therapy is the key that helps you get the knowledge from that book. This is why we are thrilled to be partnering with therapists who are specially trained in ketamine assisted psychotherapy to get our patients on the road to recovery faster and with a more meaningful impact than with just medication alone.
Please note that we are not an at-home ketamine provider. Your journey with ketamine assisted psychotherapy begins with a 60-minute intake with one of the providers with Axis Integrated Mental Health. Your intake can be done either via telehealth or in-person and will be a comprehensive understanding of your mental health goals, your lifestyle, your medical history, and we will collaborate with you to develop a custom-tailored plan to help you achieve your goals.
If you are a good candidate for ketamine assisted psychotherapy, we will ask you to sign a Release of Information form to communicate with the Ignite therapy team and will work together with them to coordinate your care.
Part of coordinating your care includes working with your insurance company to get prior-authorizations so that you do not have to pay out-of-pocket for your treatment. Most prior-authorizations can be completed within two (2) weeks. This includes authorization for both the medication and the therapy.
We firmly believe in complete transparency about costs before we begin your treatment program, as well as making treatment as affordable and accessible as possible to people from all walks of life.
As much as possible, we work with your insurance to minimize out-of-pocket expenses to our patients. Ketamine infusions however, are not covered by insurance and you can a more detailed breakdown of ketamine infusion costs and our financing options under patient resources.
Spravato costs are typically more affordable as it is covered by insurance, and they also have a rebate program for commercially insured patients that make the treatment no more than $10 a visit.
Although IV ketamine is not covered by insurance, Spravato is currently covered by most insurance plans and we will work with your insurance to get the therapy component of your treatment plan covered as well. Axis Integrated Mental Health accepts most major insurances including commercial insurance, Tricare and Medicaid.
You might be wondering "where can I find ketamine assisted psychotherapy near me?" Axis Integrated Mental Health offers ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for ptsd, treatment-resistant depression, major depressive disorder and anxiety from our mental health clinics in Denver and Louisville, Colorado. Please contact us at (720) 400-7025 or book an intake appointment with our psychiatrists to understand the full range of conditions we treat and the treatment options we offer, including non-medication options like Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).
