Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

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.