Dislodging Stuckness with Ketamine
"a jewel of opportunity for spacious mind"
Where are you stuck?
It took me more than a decade of regular, intentional psychedelic use to embrace and fully appreciate the metamorphic experience available with ketamine. Despite dozens of high-dose experiences with psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, and even 5MeO-DMT, I feared what I’d find within my mind on ketamine.
While I’m glad that I approached the medicine slowly and with care, I realize now that ketamine might have been a potentially ideal medicine to start with in the midst of my suicidal depression, had I access to a safe container in which to experience the trance-state that ketamine offers.
What I have found since is a powerful catalyst for dislodging stuckness in the body and mind—largely without the use of words, narrative, or intellect. In a similar metaphysical way that empathogenic MDMA works to clear the nervous system, ketamine, a dissociative, works to clear the mind.
“Ketamine helps to loosen tight controls and engender flexibility of mind and behavior. It may well have a spiritual aspect of awe and engender a reduction of negative or inflated ego. As dysphoria is left behind, new energies for life are experienced and can be brought into play in ordinary life.”
—Phil Wolfson, M.D.
The implications of these effects for men are astounding, particularly in the face of so many millions of men currently taking SSRI antidepressants (Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro, Prozac, etc.), which serve mostly to compress the lived experience (bringing the lows higher and the highs lower), an effect which, for me, created more tension over time, rather than less.
Routes of Administration
The legal nature of ketamine compounded by its rates of success has created a culture of ketamine clinics across the US, where for many thousands of dollars, you may sit in a stale office and receive high-dose IV ketamine administered by a doctor or nurse who may or may not have training in sitting with people experiencing potentially life-changing psychedelic journeys.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (or KAP, or KPP for ketamine psychedelic psychotherapy) is also offered by many ‘underground’ psychedelic guides whose ketamine practices may or may not be legally sanctioned, but there is a slightly higher likelihood that your sitter is someone who knows how to be with others during big experiences because they also do their own work in these realms.
All Together Now
While ketamine can be deeply helpful on its own, it is also often used in conjunction with other psychedelics, depending on what’s needed in a journey. On the backside of a big MDMA or LSD journey, for example, ketamine can help land the ship, or even help a tired traveler drift into more restful states.
There are also reports of ketamine being used as a launchpad for 5MeO. I would recommend only very experienced practicioners play in that sandbox.
…which leads me into a necessary mention of ketamine’s well-documented potential for addiction. If you’re someone who compulsively seeks escape through drug use, or has a history of substance abuse, you would very likely find a satisfactory escape hatch in ketamine—one that is technically less dangerous than, say, fentanyl.
The ‘escape’ trait, or its dissociative effects, is part of its helpfulness in healing as well. When you allow yourself to spend some time disconnected form the deeply-embedded grooves of your daily life, the stories you tell yourself, and your circuitstorm of thoughts, you have an opportunities to form new grooves, thought and behavior patterns.
In the ketamine-verse, much of this happens in the subconscious; you don’t necessarily think “I’ve changed my mind on killing myself,” instead, it might be, “it just doesn’t sound like that great of an idea anymore.”
Notice the difference?
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“Welcome to an awakening to a jewel of opportunity for spacious mind, clarity and a relief from pain and suffering. Like all jewels, the ketamine space has its luster, facets, and its flaws. Ketamine journeys can be healing of trauma and depression, transformative of mind and heart, lessen the tension of ego and attachment, and enlighten and support connection and love. This book is as diverse in its presentations as are the range of ketamine applications, dosages, and routes of administration. Ketamine is not for everyone. Not everyone responds. Not everyone finds it an easy medicine. For some, there are immediate awakenings. For most, it takes time for effects to manifest. In the moment of its influence and often afterwards, it may well be the most profound internal experience of mind.”
Phil Wolfson, M.D., The Ketamine Papers
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That’s all I’ve got this week. Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. Psychedelics may be illegal in some areas and carry risks. Consult a qualified professional before considering their use. The author is not responsible for any actions taken based on this content.