Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)

What is ketamine?

Ketamine is classified as a general anesthetic. In that role, it has been used in surgery for decades and has a strong reputation of safety. Ketamine is so safe, it’s often used during children’s surgery and for adults who can’t tolerate other anesthetics.

How does ketamine treat depression?

Depression is often treated with antidepressant medications. When these drugs work, they’re life saving, but here’s the problem: antidepressants fail to improve depression in up to 35% of all patients. You still have hope for recovery with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Dr. Lifschutz safely and successfully uses ketamine-assisted psychotherapy to help patients who haven’t responded to their antidepressants for a long time, even 10 years. You don’t need to continue struggling with depression. 

Ketamine very effectively treats severe depression and suicidality, but it’s most notable for producing quick results in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Ketamine is a versatile drug that produces different results depending on the dosage used. For anesthetic purposes, a high dose is administered; at a low dose it’s a powerful pain reliever.

Ketamine has another exceptional use: It directly affects levels of glutamate, a brain chemical that’s essential for regulating your mood. In addition to restoring normal levels of glutamate, studies suggest that ketamine may also help repair damaged nerve connections in your brain.

Treatment-resistant depression exists when your depression doesn’t improve after taking at least two different antidepressants. When ketamine is infused intravenously or injected intramuscularly, it relieves treatment-resistant depression within days for most patients.

Ketamine works so well that the US Food and Drug Administration approved SpravatoⓇ for lifting depression in March 2019. Spravato contains a form of ketamine, esketamine, that’s administered as a nasal spray in the office of a certified provider.

What is ketamine-assisted psychotherapy?

True to its name, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) combines ketamine with psychotherapy. When you come in for the treatment, you will begin by having a talk with Dr. Lifschutz and do some relaxation exercises. After that, you'll have a choice to listen to music or just relax. From there, you will take the ketamine either orally or by injection. During the next 45-60 minutes, your brain will experience ketamine, and it can take a variety of forms. The doctor will be there to support you, but many patients recall an out of body experience.

During the Ketamine experience, you can experience deep emotional issues. With his guidance, you will experience connecteions with your emotions and thoughts. You will see how your thoughts trigger feelings. With your new insights, you can change thought negative patterns.

During the third hour, you will gently come out of the Ketamine experience, and you spend an integration hour with the doctor making sense out of what you have experienced .

The doctor may recommend having six ketamine sessions.

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic, which means that a particular dose, it induces a pleasant dream-like state that helps you relax and allows your brain to retrieve memories and events. During KAP, you can access deep emotional issues and talk about them with Dr. Lifschutz.

With his guidance, you’ll identify connections between your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. and how they trigger your depression. With your new insight, you can drive results in your life by changing negative patterns.

Combining therapy with ketamine is the key to long-lasting results because you learn how to control your emotions and behaviors.

Dr. Lifschutz has worked with patients who have not responded to antidepressant medications for 10 years. With ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, he has witnessed amazing results, as patients shed their depression and learn to deal with its underlying cause.

If you struggle with ongoing depression despite taking medication, call David H. Lifschutz, MD, or schedule an appointment online.

Psychopharmacology

What is psychopharmacology?

Psychopharmacology is an essential treatment in psychiatry because medications can restore the brain’s chemical imbalances that lead to mental health problems.

David H. Lifschutz, MD, offers his knowledge, experience, and solutions that work, whether your solution includes medication, therapy, or both. As a clinical psychopharmacologist, Dr. Lifschutz is trained to understand how your thoughts and emotions affect chemical and biological processes, and the reverse: how imbalances in brain chemicals are associated with emotional and behavioral problems. He also has an in-depth understanding of how drugs interact with your complex biochemistry to restore balance.

Even with his expertise, using medications to treat mental health disorders is complex for several reasons. For starters, there are many different psychotropic medications, each with a different mechanism of action.

Additionally, every person metabolizes and responds to each medication differently. Even in the same class of medications, such as antidepressants, you may respond to one, several, or none of the drugs available in that class.

What types of psychiatric medications are available?

These are the primary classes of psychiatric medications prescribed by Dr. Lifschutz:

Antidepressants

There are currently about 11 different medications formulated to alleviate the symptoms of depression.

Anti-anxiety medications

The medications in this class include benzodiazepines, such as lorazepam, as well as nonaddictive anti-anxiety medications such as buspirone.

Antipsychotic medications

Dr. Lifschutz chooses from about 11 antipsychotic medications to treat conditions such as depression, ADHD, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and psychosis.

Mood stabilizers

Lithium is the one of several psychotropic mood stabilizer.

Stimulants

Several stimulants are commonly used to treat ADHD. Some are short-acting while others are long-acting.

Why is medication management part of psychopharmacology?

During your initial consultation, Dr. Lifschutz evaluates your symptoms, learns about your personal and family history, and orders laboratory tests, if needed. Once he determines your diagnosis, he may prescribe one of the medications listed above.

Dr. Lifschutz does not give you a prescription and send you away. He begins medication management, which means he protects your health by closely monitoring your progress. At regular appointments, he evaluates the drug’s effectiveness and makes sure the dose and type of medication are working for your symptoms.

When necessary, Dr. Lifschutz switches the dose and/or the medication. He may also order blood tests to be sure your medication doesn’t cause unwanted changes in your biochemistry.

Dr. Lifschutz uses his knowledge and experience, but with so many medications and variables, sometimes you’ll need to try several medications or doses to achieve the best results.

If you need psychiatric medication, call David H. Lifschutz, MD, or schedule an appointment online.

Psychedelic Harm Reduction & Integration

Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration helps individuals who have had experiences with psychedelic drugs including challenging ones and desire help in integrating the experience. Harm reduction is assisting individuals who are curious about psychedelic drug use and desire guidance in discerning where their interests stem from and how to pursue their interests in a safe manner.

Dr. Lifschutz has participated in MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) training program for MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy for when MDMA becomes legalized and Harm Reduction and Integration of psychedelic drugs.