Ketamine Psychedelic Therapy

Alternative Alcoholism Treatment

The alternative alcohol and drug addiction treatment program at Eleusis incorporates the legal psychedelic agent Ketamine in its ground-breaking Entheogen-Enhanced Psychotherapy for the treatment of alcohol and drug addiction.

Evgeny Krupitsky, M.D., a psychiatrist, began using Ketamine in Russia in 1985, as an alternative alcohol addiction treatment technique. Dr. Krupitsky developed Ketamine Psychedelic Therapy (KPT) and has treated more than 1,000 patients in his center without complications. He has done the most comprehensive clinical research on this subject.

In 1992, Dr. Krupitsky published the results of his studies in the Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. He reported that KPT alternative alcohol addiction treatment demonstrated a significant clinical effect. Of patients who received KPT, 69.8 percent were sober one year later, while only 24 percent in the control group remained abstinent during the one-year follow-up period.

In 1997, Dr. Krupitsky published an extensive review of the results of his KPT research in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. He concluded that KPT is a safe and effective alternative alcoholism treatment. In addition, Dr. Krupitsky reported that KPT is also effective as an alternative addiction treatment technique for other drug dependencies, such as heroin and ephedrine, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, reactive depression, neurotic disorders and avoidant personality disorders. In addition, he discovered that KPT is somewhat effective for the treatment of phobic neurosis, obsessive-compulsive neurosis and histrionic personality disorder.

In 2002, Dr. Krupitsky published the results of a more intensive study in which he examined the effectiveness of Ketamine psychotherapy for heroin addiction (PDF) in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. His study showed that the rate of abstinence in the Ketamine group was significantly higher than that of the control group, while the corresponding rate of relapse was lower. His study also documented that KPT considerably reduced the craving for heroin. In addition, the study showed that Ketamine psychotherapy produced no significant adverse reactions.

Dr. Krupitsky reported that his patients showed significant improvement after KPT. They became less anxious and depressed, more responsible and emotionally mature, with increased ego strength and positive changes in life values, self-concept and spiritual development.

About Ketamine

Ketamine Hydrochloride was originally synthesized in 1962 by the American chemist Calvin Stevens, and in 1966 Parke-Davis patented it for use as an anesthetic in humans. The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Ketamine in 1970 for use with children, adults and the elderly. Since then, Ketamine has been widely used in hospitals and for office procedures that require anesthesia.

More than 7,000 published reports describe Ketamine's effectiveness and its large margin of safety. According to several reports, Ketamine actually prevents brain damage from strokes, head trauma, heart attacks, epileptic seizures, low oxygen levels and low blood sugar levels.

A rapid-acting, non-narcotic, non-barbiturate agent, Ketamine has been termed a “dissociative” anesthetic, as it appears to dissolve the boundaries between mind and body. It has been widely used in the United States since 1970 due to its:

• Rapid onset
• Short duration of action
• Large margin of safety

Clinical studies have detected no long-term impairment of behavior or personality functioning as a result of Ketamine use.

The dissociative action of Ketamine creates what is known as “emergence phenomena,” a type of transpersonal experience. Due to this profound effect, Ketamine belongs to the class of compounds known as entheogens. Unlike the majority of entheogenic compounds, however, Ketamine is completely legal under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, when administered by a licensed physician.

During the late 1960s, the American scientist, John Lilly, M.D. conducted pioneering research with Ketamine, which he later summarized in his book The Scientist. In his research, Dr. Lilly administered Ketamine both inside and outside of an isolation tank, and determined the relationship between the dosage and the nature of the Ketamine experience. He also introduced the concept of using transpersonal experience for reprogramming the brain-mind interface.

In 1973, Iranian psychiatrist, E. Khorramzadeh, M.D., published the first report about the use of Ketamine in psychiatry in the Psychosomatic Journal. However, Dr. Khorramzadeh did not use Ketamine as an alternative alcoholism treatment. Instead, he administered Ketamine to 100 psychiatric patients with various psychosomatic diagnoses, including tension headaches, depression, anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsive neurosis, conversion reaction, hypochondriasis, hysteria, and ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Khorramzadeh reported that 91 of his patients were doing well after six months, and 88 of the subjects remained well after one year. Complications were minimal and included apprehension (2 subjects), nausea (3 subjects) and vomiting (2 subjects). Dr. Khorramzadeh concluded that Ketamine's “abreactive [cathartic] effect correlated well with Ketamine's mind-expanding effect.”