This event from Meet Delic was hosted virtually Thursday, September 10th, 2020.
Despite its reputation as an anesthetic and club drug, ketamine has shown promise as a possible treatment for people suffering from “treatment-resistant” depression. Ketamine is well-known to have antidepressant properties, and mental health experts, medical practitioners, and psychedelic therapists have used ketamine therapies for over six decades to alleviate the suffering of patients for whom other therapies have not worked. Patients suffering from severe trauma and PTSD, depression, chronic pain, anxiety, and other conditions have found relief from their symptoms after undergoing ketamine therapy.
Speakers
- Jackee Stang is the Founder of Delic Corp, and is the Meet Delic MC extraordinaire!
- Stacey Ramsower is a full-spectrum doula, somatic (sensory-based) movement teacher, somatic sex educator, yoga instructor, and Ayurvedic coach. She specializes in working with women to help them reclaim parts of themselves that have been shunned, rejected, or silenced through birth, loss, trauma, or self-sabotage. Stacey has also studied meditation immersion, often incorporating meditative practices into her work to help individuals restore their physical, emotional, and spiritual baseline. [Learn more]
- Del Jolly is Co-Founder and Director at Unlimited Sciences, a nonprofit psychedelic research group combining data from real-life psychedelic users with scientific data to create a comprehensive account of the effects of psychedelics under varying conditions. Del has a background in hemp oil/CBD production and cannabis nonprofit work. He served as Outreach Director to the Decriminalize Denver campaign, which succeeded in decriminalizing psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”) throughout the city of Denver, Colorado.
- Dr. David Feifel is Founder and Director of the Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute, a clinic dedicated to helping individuals with neuropsychiatric conditions move forward (kadima means “forward” in Hebrew) with the use of cutting-edge treatments and technologies. Dr. Feifel is a clinician, neuropsychiatrist, and educator whose mission is to advance and improve new treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.
- Dr. Matthew Cook is Founder and President of BioReset Medical, a clinic providing treatment and cutting-edge therapies to patients living with chronic and difficult-to-live-with ailments like PTSD, chronic pain, and more. Dr. Cook is a board-certified anesthesiologist with more than two decades of experience. He is also a regenerative medicine specialist, treating conditions such as complex pain, geronotological symptoms, and depression.
- Kevin Nicholson is CEO of Ketamine Wellness Centers, a clinical program at different locations around the country that provides ketamine treatments to patients suffering from a variety of afflictions. Kevin is a registered nurse with more than two decades of experience working one-on-one both with patients and at the executive level.
- Julie Nicholson is Chief Strategy Officer at Ketamine Wellness Centers, overseeing administrative and operational duties for clinics around the country. [Learn more]
- Angela Ward is a registered nurse and wellness coach who specializes in supporting individuals undergoing transformative experiences such as ketamine therapies and similar psychedelic-assisted therapies. Angela takes psychedelic therapy out of the clinical setting, focusing on creating an environment that allows clients to achieve high levels of trust and self-understanding. [Learn more]
- Barbara Branaman is the CEO and Founder of Medicine Yoga, a studio integrating yoga with traditional Chinese medicine, strength training, dance, diagnostic testing, and the best of eastern and western approaches. Barbara is a Qigong master and educator, and also works in conjunction with Dr. Cook, helping to provide ketamine treatment to individuals with chronic mental and physical conditions.
- Irena Reina Marin is a psychedelics educator and integration coach who has had her own profound experience with ketamine. [Learn more]
- Ian McCall is a retired MMA fighter, an advocate of psychedelics research and decriminalization, a podcast host, and stand-up comedian. [Learn more]
Event Highlights
Introduction & Getting Started
- Grounding Practice, guided by Stacey Ramsower
- Brief video explaining the recent partnership between Johns Hopkins and Unlimited Sciences, and detailing how you can get involved by sharing your experience with psilocybin “in the wild.”
Ketamine Roundtable
- Brief History of Ketamine: Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic with strong cognitive and psychedelic effects. Though popular as a recreational drug, it was first discovered in 1962, developed as an attempt at an alternative to PCP, and finally approved by the FDA in 1970. Medics first used ketamine as an anesthetic for wounded soldiers during the Vietnam War. Recent clinical uses of ketamine include treatments for depression, PTSD, and other chronic conditions.
- Why and How Ketamine Works: Ketamine could help to increase neurogenesis, a process by which the brain forms new brain cells. Until recently, neurogenesis was considered impossible, but new studies indicate that this process not only occurs in the adult brain, but can be stimulated to occur through treatments such as ketamine therapies.
- Ketamine in Anesthesiology: Ketamine has been a routine ingredient for in-operating room patient care. It is used both as a sedative and as a component of anesthesia. Ketamine provides extraordinary pain relief. It is the only pain reliever known to increase respiratory rate just a little, rather than decreasing it, thus making it a safer option. In some cases, patients treated with ketamine display fewer depressive symptoms after surgery compared with patients not treated with ketamine.
- Creating the Right Setting: Some providers prefer to create a more clinical environment. Others prefer to provide an almost home-like setting for their clients to comfortably receive ketamine therapies. Regardless of the “vibe” of the setting, most panelists agreed that it’s all about making the patient comfortable, and giving them plenty of information and room to ask questions.
Q&A with Ketamine Panelists
- What drugs can or should ketamine be mixed with? Which ones should be avoided? Are there any known ketamine interactions? Go to Dr. Feifel’s answer …
- Is there any evidence for the benefits of low-doses vs. high-doses of ketamine? Go to Barbara Branaman’s answer …
- What is the effect of ketamine on breastmilk, or in children who consume it? Go to Dr. Feifel’s answer …
- Why is it so hard to get access to ketamine? Go to answers from panelists …
Questions from Live Audience
- How can you get involved in psychedelics and psychedelic therapies, without having a medical background? Go to answers …
- How can abuse be prevented, and what are the potential negative effects of short- or long-term ketamine use? Go to answers …
Personal Accounts of Ketamine Use
Excerpt from Irena Reina Marin’s account of ketamine treatment and its impact:
“In my instance, the most transformational experience that I have had involves using ketamine for treating depression that was caused by sexual trauma and experiencing the most profound form of psychosomatic release that I have ever had, which became a turning point in my healing and my ability to manage certain manifestations that my body was struggling with.
As all of you have remarked, [a] ketamine experience can be incredibly different, depending on the mode of application, depending on the setting, and the dosage that is used. In my specific case, coming from a deep history of sexual trauma that was never actually processed, a large dose was needed to bring me to that place of actually being able to process certain experiences that have happened to me as a child … that intense form of psychosomatic experience is something that has allowed me, just like one of the panelists had mentioned, to literally turn on the light in a tunnel.
To feel that release, of actually becoming unstuck, and coming out of that place of my body freezing completely was incredibly profound for that specific experience. That has resulted, later on, in being able to implement some of those new sensations that my body had received during that specific treatment into my integration practices.”
—Irena Reina Marin
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