Psychedelic Ketamine Assisted Therapy with Holistic Psychiatrist in South Bay of Los Angeles
Develop new Insights and Broader perspectives through Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy
If you’ve been suffering from a chronic mental health condition and feel like you’ve tried it all, you’re not alone. Traditional mental health treatment approaches like medication and talk therapy offer many people relief, and don’t work for everyone. When they do work, therapeutic benefits take time and the wait can feel excruciating.
Psychedelic dose of the medicine Ketamine disrupts your brain’s default mode network, which is your usual way of thinking and perceiving. The Non-Ordinary State of Consciousness (NOSC) created by this disruption can activate your body’s natural healing intelligence, allowing you to look at yourself, others, and the world in a very different way. Research has shown that psychedelics can facilitate Neuroplasticity, the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. In other words, the brain is rewired to function in a way that differs from how it previously functioned.
If you’re looking for more than symptom relief and want to experience transformational healing or breakthrough, click here to call for appointment.
DEPRESSION • ANXIETY • PTSD • ADDICTION • TRAUMA • GRIEF
What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is a medicine that can be considered plant medicine as it is produced by mycelium (Pochonia chlamydosporia), though ketamine that is widely used in created in lab rather than derived from mycelium. Ketamine is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, and has been used widely as a safe and effective dissociative anesthetic since it was first synthesized in 1962 and received FDA approval in 1970.
Antidepressant effect of Ketamine has been studied since the year 2000 by psychiatrists due to its ability to rapidly relieve symptoms of depression in patients through intravenous infusion. In 2018, Esketamine, a derivative of Ketamine, was FDA-approved for treatment of depression. Psychiatric use in patients less than 18 years of age is not FDA-approved, although FDA has approved Ketamine as a safe anesthetic teens, children, and even infants at doses far larger than those used for psychiatric purposes.
Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy involves paring psychotherapy before and after Ketmaine-induced journey into your mind, to provide a dual treatment approach that combines the neurochemical benefits of ketamine with the transformative benefits of psychotherapy. This process allows patients to accelerate healing and integrate their newly discovered wisdom into their daily lives.
Here’s How Ketamine Therapy Process Works
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1. Intake & Prep
Comprehensive psychiatric evaluation is necessary, and 1-3 (or more) additional preparatory sessions may be required before starting Ketamine sessions.
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2. Ketamine Sessions
Ketamine sessions twice a week for 3-4 (or more) weeks are 3 hours long each, and include support during & integration right after Ketamine journey.
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3. Integration
Long-term psychotherapy with me or your primary therapist, to find meaning & develop new insights so you can integrate lasting changes into your life.
Looking for Group Ketamine Therapy?
Sacred Ceremony, Sound Bath & Ketamine Therapy in heart-centered community
Disrupt Old Patterns of Thinking and Perceiving & Make Lasting Changes
Tap into Your Body’s Inner Healing Intelligence & Heal from the Inside Out
Integrate Newfound Wisdom through Therapy with a Holistic Psychiatrist
MEET YOUR PSYCHEDELIC KETAMINE THERAPIST
Dr. TJ Rai
As a holistic psychiatrist, I’ve been treating individuals and families for over 25 years, patients who have treatment-resistant depression with intranasal esketamine since 2020, and started providing Psychedelic Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy in 2022.
Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy Sessions
In my office, your individual Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy sessions take place in a private, dedicated treatment room that is separate from my routine psychotherapy office. The space is a calm sanctuary where you recline on a comfortable chaise lounge for your session. The darkened room and evocative music specific for each psychedelic journey enhances your experience, supporting your inward journey of self-discovery.
Psychedelic dose of Ketamine can give you a healthy distance between pain and trauma, allowing you to see your past experiences without autoplaying old thinking and narratives. When combined with psychotherapy, patients can explore their findings from this expanded state of consciousness and grow in ways that may have previously been inaccessible.
What’s unique about Psychedelic Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is that you’re not left to understand what you discover alone. Psychotherapy following your Psychedelic Ketamine journey into you mind will allow you to understand your experiences and integrate your new ways of seeing yourself and others into your daily life. Each Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy session is 2-3 hours in duration, and you will need to arrange transportation to and from treatment, as it is not safe to drive right after Ketamine session.
How Does Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy Feel?
Ketamine at a psychedelic dose optimized for each individual and paired with breath-work and music specific for psychedelic journeys can lead to intense dissociation from the body so you can take a journey into your mind for 1.5-2 hours long awake-dreaming experience, during which you can access material buried in your mind that might not otherwise be accessible during ordinary waking consciousness.
Psychotherapy to integrate the information you obtain during Ketamine-induced “journey” into your mind is what can lead to transformation, rather than the biological effect of Ketamine alone.
The mindset one is in when Ketamine is administered, and the setting it is administered in (commonly referred to as “set and setting”) have major influence on the effects you experience.
Benefits of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
Experiencing my own Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) during a retreat for mental health professionals was a required part of training as KAP provider with Polaris Insight Center, San Francisco. I want my patients to know that I am not sending you anywhere I have gone myself only during that retreat. In fact, my first psychedelic journey facilitated by a shaman in 2014 led to a major breakthrough in my personal life. I feel that I gained more healing and closure by integrating through psychotherapy the information I obtained during that one psychedelic journey than ten years of therapy alone could provide.
While I cannot promise that you will experience the same degree of improvement, as no medicine (including ketamine) works for everyone…I have seen many patients experience breakthroughs with Psychedelic Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy.
One patient’s depression had caused her to have such low energy and motivation that she could not dig herself out of what felt like a deep hole. The antidepressant effect of ketamine alone acted like a powerful trampoline that bounced her from that dark cave into the sunlight. Once she had a glimpse of the view from the mountain-top, she was able to connect with her inner strength to climb her way out of the dark cave of depression. I have many more stories of patients who are now on a healing path. Each person’s journey is unique.
For more questions read on or click here to call for an appointment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy Safe?
Ketamine is safe when prescribed at the right dose by a trained medical professional. While many receive antidepressant effect from intranasal esketamine or intravenous ketamine infusions alone, I believe the most healing and growth when occurs when psychedelic dose of ketamine is combined with psychotherapy.
Ketamine has been used during medical procedures for anesthesia and pain relief in both children and adults for many years. Psychedelic dose of ketamine is significantly lower than that used for anesthesia.
Unfortunately, Ketamine can be abused by some individuals as a party drug. Ketamine may also be habit-forming for some people, another important reason why ketamine treatment should be closely supervised by a trusted medical professional.
If you think Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy may be right for you, call to schedule an appointment.
Is Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy Effective?
Clinical trials have also shown that ketamine provides substantial relief for patients suffering from conditions ranging from treatment-resistant depression to anxiety, PTSD, and chronic pain. Ketamine is also being studied to assess its treatment viability for other conditions such as addictions and eating disorders.
The extraordinary breakthroughs patients have had with KAP is the reason why holistic mental healthcare providers like myself have embraced this innovative treatment approach. While carefully examining the risks for each patient, I believe KAP has the potential to transform lives.
To find out more you may also read the LA Times article on psychedelic Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy linked here.
To read more about benefits of psychedelics see article in the journal Science linked here.
Who is Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy not right for?
KAP is not right for some patients. If any of the following conditions or symptoms describe you, KAP will not be the right treatment option for you now:
Pregnant women and nursing mothers
Poorly controlled or untreated hypertension and other cardiovascular problem
Poorly controlled or untreated hyperthyroidism
Acute Mania/Hypomania
History of psychosis or schizophrenia
Allergy to ketamine or past addiction to ketamine
Recent Traumatic Brain Injury
Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea or Respiratory Disease
Body weight greater than 300 lb.
Ongoing substance use disorder or addiction
Past bladder problems or cystitis (recreational high dose ketamine use can cause cystitis)
What about other psychedelics?
Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy was legalized in Oregon state in Jan 2023, as it has been shown to lead to great outcomes in research trials. However, widespread use and even more research is hampered by the US federal govt listing Psilocybin as illegal. As noted for ketamine above, it is not the biological effect of psilocybin alone that leads to transformation, rather the “set and setting” combined with psychotherapy are what leads to therapeutic benefit. I strongly discourage using Psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms) recreationally as that can lead to vastly different outcomes as opposed to their therapeutic use. For more info you may read LA Times article on Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy linked here.
MDMA-Asssisted Psychotherapy has been allocated “breakthrough therapy” status by the FDA because of its marked efficacy for treatment of PTSD in research sponsored by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). It is not widely available clinically as MDMA (Methylene Dioxy Meth Amphetamine) is listed as illegal by the US federal govt, same as Psilocybin. As noted above for other psychedelics, it is not the biological effect of MDMA alone that leads to transformation, rather the “set and setting” combined with psychotherapy are what leads to therapeutic benefit. I strongly discourage using MDMA (Molly, Ecstasy) recreationally as that can lead to vastly different outcomes as opposed to its therapeutic use. For more info you may read LA Times article on MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy linked here.
LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) was the first psychedelic prescribed by psychiatrists, until its use became illegal in 1968. One of the most severely psychotic patient I ever treated while training at UCLA had halllucinogen persisting perception disorder after past recreational use of LSD (“dropping acid”) in his teens. I strongly discourage recreational use of LSD.
THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinolin) contained in Cannabis (Marijuana, Weed) plants can have psychedelic effects in certain doses, especially when combined with other psychedelics such as those listed above. As noted above for other plant medicines, the “set and setting” combined with psychotherapy are what leads to therapeutic benefit. I strongly discourage recreational smoking and/or ingesting edible THC-containing Cannabis products, especially for teens and young adults, whose brain has not yet matured fully, and is more prone to developing long-term adverse outcomes such as persisting paranoia/psychosis in susceptible individuals.
Ayahuasca is used ceremonially in certain parts of the world for its psychedelic effects, and it cannot be combined with most psychiatric medications. This is because Ayahuasca contains MAOI (Mono-Amine Oxidase Inhibitor) that prolongs the half-life of the psychedelic DMT by inhibiting the breakdown/metabolism of DMT, and MAOIs can likewise inhibit breakdown of certain medications, causing their blood levels to rise to potentially dangerous levels.
What is the cost of Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy?
KAP treatment is customized for patients and varies depending on length of sessions, and the number sessions of you need, and on whether you need me to facilitate your entire ketamine journey, or whether a trained member of my staff can provide psychedelic facilitation for the 2-hour journey and I meet with you at the start and end of the journey for prep and integration. Cost can be vary from $600 per session when your 2-hour ketamine journey is with a member of my team qualified to provide psychedelic facilitation, and I spend a total of additional 45min with you for psychotherapy…or up to $1200 for a 3-hour session where I stay with the you for the entire session to provide psychedelic facilitation throughout your 2-hour journey, and total of 1 hour psychotherapy.…or something in between.
Live the Life You’ve Always Wanted
Solutions-Oriented Holistic Mental Health Care and Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy