Ketamine Assisted Therapy Update

For those who are new here…Tom did IV Ketamine treatment through Lower Bucks Wellness when his ADHD had him really, really struggling. There’s a lot of research about the glutamate system & KAP – glutamate is connected to dopamine, an important neurotransmitter for the ADHD brain (see our upcoming book for more about this- you can pre-order here: https://theexperimentpublishing.com/catalogs/summer-2026/how-to-understand-and-deal-with-adhd/

KAP was a transformative experience for Tom- with the “brain brightening” effects and deep processing he was able to do while under. The processing reminded Charity so much of the work she does in EMDR intensive therapy that she got trained and started offering KAP in her intensive therapy retreats.

So two years later, where are we at with it?

The impact of KAP is short lived, but an important goal while on it is to shift your neural pathways, so you’ll be able to see the long term impact. (This is why it’s so important to work with a therapist during KAP- to do the additional brain work, like EMDR!) For Tom, we definitely see the ongoing impact…perhaps most notably in writing our first book together this year- a guide to living with ADHD! (The book will be published this summer by The Experiment, and as mentioned above, you can pre-order it now)

We can’t say how writing the book would have gone pre-KAP treatment, but it definitely happened with more ease because of it. (Tom does occasional maintenance treatments as well…usually once every few months, but using sublingual instead of IV for the maintenance doses).

It’s been a tough year to navigate for everyone. For Tom specifically there has been lots of grief, including losing a close family member and our favorite chickens, but most especially in feeling the daily heavy grief of the world. The deep processing he did during the intense part of treatment has given so much more capacity to be with this grief.

As for Charity- with some exceptions (mostly for severe dissociation), she found that KAP didn’t particularly enhance EMDR intensives. Her theory is because in an EMDR intensive we already do such deep work, getting very similar results as KAP. So when a client needs KAP she will offer it, but primarily she continues to do the blend of IFS informed EMDR and somatic work that already makes her intensive therapy retreats so magical.

We’re always happy to answer KAP questions. For Tom, it was magic. For Charity, the magic is still in intensive EMDR/IFS therapy. We hope you find whatever magic you need this year for your healing, too- always with the caveat that all “magic” requires hard work, but that it’s always worth it.