Before you have a psychedelic journey, it’s important to understand what to expect and how it may feel. Although it isn’t possible to fully predict what your ketamine (or other psychedelic) journey will be like, it is possible to feel prepared for it. Below are some important things to note when considering ketamine or psychedelic assisted psychotherapy.
How much experience do you have with psychedelics?
To engage in ketamine or psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, you don’t need to have past experiences with psychedelics. However, it is important to consider your level of understanding and comfort with non-ordinary states of consciousness. Like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool, it’s a good idea to know some things about psychedelics before you dive in.
A psychedelic therapist can cover the questions, fears, concerns and hopes you may have about psychedelic treatment before the experience. This is part of what is called the preparation phase of psychedelic therapy, and is a slice of how you should be supported in order to have a safe and impactful experience.
Do you have a mindfulness practice?
Again, although not mandatory, it is helpful to reflect on current practices you have that help you stay in the present moment. Part of the psychedelic work is facing the hard stuff that can come up. Ways to stay with the possible difficult moments during a journey can be practiced ahead of time via meditation, yoga, movement, exercise, being in nature,etc… During the preparation phase of KAP or PAP treatment, I often lead clients through breathing exercises, simple yoga poses, and other mind-body-spirit connection activities. This builds up the capacity for interoception (perceiving what is going on internally). Since ketamine is a very internal process, it makes sense to get comfortable with inward directed focus ahead of time.
How comfortable are you with not being in control?
It’s normal to want to have control over the outcomes in our lives. Structure, routines, and helpful habits are great, and we can choose to utilize those things in order to thrive. Yet, in a psychedelic journey, the structure, habits and control strategies may very well be inacessible.
What do you feel when you consider the concept of surrender? I know the cliche “go with the flow” can be eyerolling. But cliches were born out of deep truths. How comfortable are you being in “places” you’ve never been before? (You could wonder about this literally or metaphorically). How are you with allowing things to happen, rather than making things happen?
What is your current support system?
Taking time to reflect on the helpful influences and actions you have presently in your life is important to note prior to starting KAP or PAP. This is because things can “come up” afterwards—and having a support plan created ahead of time can really help with your integration and growth goals.
Is there a person you can talk to about your psychedelic experiences, current challenges and future hopes? Do you currently work with a psychotherapist and/or medical provider? Do you belong to a support group? Do you have a supportive person, animal, object, spiritual practice, self care routine you can lean on during and after your psychedelic experience(s)? Are you open to developing some resources before you begin your psychedelic work?
How motivated are you to put in the work?
This can be tricky if you live with depression—depression can squash your energy, hope and motivation. KAP and PAP can be really helpful for some people who experience long-term depression, or cycles of. So if you identify as pretty low energy or motivation, that’s ok. Looking at ourselves with gentleness and love, and knowing that it may take a lot of motivation just to call a therapist IS motivation. For others, you may be bursting with excited/nervous/anxious/desperate energy to start making changes. There’s really not right or wrong answer to this question. It’s more about having the awareness of where your starting point is. And is isn’t uncommon for people to be at their absolute lowest, or coming up out of their absolute lowest, to reach out and ask for help. That is courageous warrior stuff, and we can use that as a motivating factor.
And if you aren’t sure if you really want to begin your psychedelic assisted psychotherapy work yet, that’s ok. It’s good to take an honest inventory of how much time, energy and investment you can do—prior to starting KAP treatment.
If you have more questions or interest, give me a shout.
If you are interested in talking more about if you are a good fit for KAP, contact me. I’d love to support!