Transcend offers small group Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy.
Transcend Group Intravenous (IV) Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (Group IV KAP).
Transcend’s safe and effective Ketamine psychotherapy offered in a small group format.
What is standard group psychotherapy?
In standard individual psychotherapy, a patient meets one-on-one with their therapist, and discusses a wide variety of life concerns, with their therapist typically listening and responding according to a specific therapy technique (e.g., CBT, DBT, psychodynamic methods, or motivational interviewing, to name a few).
In group psychotherapy, a group of clients, often between 4 and 8, meet with a professionally trained therapist to discuss their presenting concerns. In group psychotherapy, clients receive feedback from the therapist, but also receive advice or guidance from other members of the group. In addition, interpersonal dynamics will often arise between members of the group, and the therapist will observe and interpret these dynamics in a way that that heightens social awareness, communication skills, and conflict resolution skills within an interpersonal context.
Group IV Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (Group IV KAP)
A patient undergoing individual IV KAP will receive an intravenous infusion of ketamine by a skilled medical provider, typically a registered nurse. Throughout this infusion process, a trained psychotherapist is present and helps the client to get the most out of the non-ordinary state of consciousness facilitated by ketamine, with a post-infusion “integration”session seamlessly following the infusion. During this therapy integration, the client and therapist discuss psychological content that arose during the infusion and use these thoughts and feelings to gain insights concerning the patient’s presenting concerns.
In Group IV KAP, a small group of clients, typically three, are seated in zero gravity recliners in a circle for their Ketamine infusion. Next, a clinician skilled in multi-patient infusion will begin each patient’s infusion. Throughout the infusion process, a nurse, paramedic, and therapist monitor the group of patients and are standing by for any support needed. During this phase, the patients are seated in a manner that allows them privacy during the ketamine infusion. Most patients will wear headphones and listen to calm music during the infusion. Once the active infusion phase is over, the group KAP therapist will assist the group with integrating the experiences together. This session will involve a group discussion of each client’s infusion process, and the therapist will offer thoughts and reflections, with other members commonly engaging with one another in a manner that is mutually supportive and helpful.
What are the benefits of Group IV KAP?
Group IV KAP allows the following benefits not afforded by individual KAP:
· With group KAP, group members feel supported by the knowledge that other people are going through a similar experience only a few feet away.
· In group KAP, the post-infusion state of openness facilitated by ketamine can allow group members to gain a sense of identification and connectedness with others who are struggling with similar mental and physical concerns. This sense of connectedness is healing for many of our patients who often feel tremendously alienated from others due to conditions like PTSD and depression.
· Group IV KAP is more affordable. Standard individual KAP can range between $499 to $699 per KAP session. At Transcend, we offer group IV KAP for $349 per session. This allows patients to acquire Ketamine treatment that is safe, effective, and very cost-effective.
Am I right for Group IV KAP?
Group IV KAP can treat the same conditions treated with individual KAP. These conditions include:
· Problem Drinking
· Chronic Pain Conditions
· Major Depression
· Anxiety Disorders
· PTSD
In summary, Group IV KAP can be a safe and effective way to acquire ketamine therapy that is highly affordable and capable of producing insights that go beyond those produced with individual KAP. If you are interested in participating in group IV KAP, then please complete our consult form or give as a call to schedule your intake appointment.
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· Ketamine Infusion Therapy
· Group Therapy
· Integration
Your health is worth the time.
Ketamine Infusion Therapy/Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is ideal for people suffering from treatment resistant depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations, OCD, PTSD and chronic pain conditions with no relief from other medications or therapeutic interventions.
Ketamine is a very short acting medication. Generally speaking, any side effect experienced from Ketamine will be short-term and will subside after the infusion has stopped. It can be normal to have slight increases in blood pressure and heart rate during an infusion. A small percentage of patient do experience some nausea during or right after the infusion. Nausea, elevated blood pressure and heart rate are easily managed through IV medications during the session should these arise. Most patient who do not eat for three hours prior to the session, and keep their eyes closed or use eyeshades during the session, will not experience any nausea.
In high doses and or with very frequent administration Ketamine can be irritating to the bladder. For the purposes of facilitating KAP, doses of ketamine are low and most patients will only do one or two sessions per week. In this dosing and frequency there an extremely low risk of for developing bladder irritation caused by the administration of ketamine.
During your medical intake, we will determine if you need to alter your medication regime prior to treatment. There are only a few medications that should be altered prior to initiating treatment. For instance, stimulant medications, benzodiazepines, and medications like Lamictal may need to be held or adjusted prior to treatment.
We request that you don't eat a meal within 3 hours of the start of your appointment time.
After receiving a ketamine infusion, it is normal to feel slightly tired or loopy for several hours. It would be unsafe to drive after a session so we do require that you arrange a family/friend to pick you up or utilize a taxi or other ride service.
It is best to provide time to fully process the therapeutic content that may have been worked through in the session. We encourage our clients to journal and integrate in the time following the session.
At Transcend, it is our goal to have this treatment be a highly transformative, short term intervention for you.
One of the reasons to undergo the KAP process with a therapist vs. receiving Ketamine infusion or injection only is because most people are more able to avoid needing maintenance treatment longterm with KAP. When symptom reduction has occurred through the chemical effects of ketamine only, there is often a need to re-administer ketamine every 20-40 days to keep symptoms at bay. With KAP, symptom reduction is more often secondary to therapeutic progress which does not dwindle in time, and therefore maintenance treatments are often not required.
The majority of our clients will reach sub-clinical levels of distress after an average of 5-6 sessions. Most of our clients will discharge from our care after these sessions and need any form of maintenance therapy. Some people do benefit from revisiting KAP intermittently throughout the year following the initial series as needed to continue therapeutic progress but this is not the most common treatment plan at Transcend.
For chronic pain treatment, it is more difficult to keep baseline pain levels down and flair-ups without maintenance infusions ongoing. The majority of patients with chronic pain will do sessions every 3-6 weeks to keep the pain reduced.
You can expect to be at the clinic for approximately 1.5-2 hours. There are many factors that influence the length of the infusion but most patients will receive a 35-45 minute ketamine infusion. Your Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy trained therapist and medical provider will be by your side throughout your entire time in the clinic.
Have another question? Don't hesitate to reach out to us.
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