Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
1,000+ treatments across three clinics since 2018. We combine ketamine with structured psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, addiction, and eating disorders.
Ketamine occupies a unique position in psychedelic medicine. It is the only psychedelic-class substance legally available for clinical use in most countries, yet it remains poorly understood by many practitioners and frequently reduced to its reputation as an anaesthetic or a party drug. I have administered over 5,000 ketamine treatments since 2016 and published research on its mechanisms, clinical applications, and phenomenology.
This talk explores ketamine's pharmacology as an NMDA antagonist, its relationship to classical psychedelics, and the growing evidence base for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy across depression, PTSD, addiction, and eating disorders. I address the dissociative experience directly: what patients report, what predicts therapeutic benefit, and how the subjective experience relates to clinical outcome.
Audiences range from psychiatrists encountering ketamine for the first time to experienced practitioners refining their protocols. I draw on both published research and clinical observation from Scandinavia's largest KAP practice.
Talks
Ketamine: The Psychedelic Elephant in the Room
History, phenomenology, mechanisms and evolution of ketamine use in treatment of mental health disorders.
Ketamine for the treatment of substance use disorders
Ketamine in a Therapeutic Setting as Treatment for Alcohol/Substance Use Disorder
Panel on using ketamine to treat substance use disorder.
Alle mann til pumpene! Dosering, titrering og vedlikehold
Practical session on ketamine dosing, titration and maintenance for physicians and leaders. Co-presented with Rupert McShane (University of Oxford).
Publications
Reconnecting through dissociation: a 5-month follow-up case study on ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa
Ketamin ved depresjon - evidens og forslag til praksis
The dissociative psychedelic renaissance
Contextual and experiential aspects of the psychedelic experience predicting improvement in subjective wellbeing: results from a Norwegian internet convenience sample
MDMA-assisted therapy for major depressive disorder: A seven-month follow-up proof of principle trial
Clinical and non-clinical use of MDMA
MDMA-assisted therapy as a treatment for major depressive disorder: proof of principle study
Ketaminassistert psykoterapi for anorexia nervosa
Ketaminassistert psykoterapi for depresjon
Study protocol for "MDMA-assisted therapy as a treatment for major depressive disorder: A proof of principle study"
Exploration of MDMA-assisted therapy for major depressive disorder: a proof of principle study
Sikkerhet og effekt av 3,4-methylendioksymetamfetamin (MDMA)-assistert psykoterapi ved posttraumatisk stresslidelse (PTSD)
Media
Ketaminbehandling - Mer enn bare medisinen: Et dypdykk i behandlingsformen for psyken m/ Lowan Stewart & Vilde Krum Dahl
Norwegian-language conversation on what ketamine is, its decades of use in medicine, and how it is combined with psychotherapy in the treatment of depression and anxiety. Joined by producer Vilde Krum Dahl, who shares her own experience of the treatment.
Ketamine: The Psychedelic Elephant in the Room
#62 Dr. Lowan Stewart: Ketamine and Ketamine assisted psychotherapy
#84 Ketamine-Iboga Connection - NMDA - Lowan H. Stewart
#18 Ketamine
Ketamine for Depression and Reconnection
Is At-Home, Extended-Release Ketamine Coming to Market Soon?
News feature in which Lowan Stewart comments on KET01, an oral extended-release ketamine formulation in development for treatment-resistant depression, and the potential of at-home maintenance dosing to broaden access.