Ketamine: a neglected psychotherapeutic

by Richard Yensen

(by way of Tom Roberts)

As a pioneer in the use of Ketamine in psychoanalytically oriented transpersonal psychotherapy (with Salvador Roquet during the 1970's to the 1990's) I am saddened by the ignorant approach our professions are using to reconsider this drug's utility.

In the 1970's at the MPRC we approached Parke Davis about sponsoring some research into the psychotherapeutic potential of Ketalar® (their original brand name for Ketamine HCl). Because of all the negative publicity about Sernyl®, their brand name for the parent compound to Ketamine, PCP (Phencyclidine) they declined to give us any support or encouragement.

Parke Davis had sponsored some research into psychotherapy with Sernyl® only to have it be abused as a recreational drug and to lose its FDA approved status as a human anesthetic. They were afraid of calling attention to Ketamine's psychedelic effects for fear that it would lose its approval as an anesthetic. Their literat ure to this day stresses that psychotomimetic emergence effects only occur in 12.5% of cases.

In psychotherapy Ketamine can be quite useful in modifying character armor and providing insight for the patient into deeply engrained defenses. These experiences within a therapuetic/analytic relationship allow them to realize that these chronic emotional sets are not their identity, but merely a no longer useful adaption to childhood wounding.

The reports of instant anti-depressive effects for Ketamine are fascinating and the search for a compound that would embody these effects while eliminating the psychedelic effects are amusing. The management, containment and interpretation of a psychedelic journey are clearly beyond the capacity of most traditionally trained therapists to handle. Rather than addressing this with appropriate training, politics dictate that we attempt to discover a marketable quick fix for application by incomplet ely trained professionals. The blind leading the blind?

The failure to understand psychedelic effects as a therapeutic value is the tragedy in our current scene.

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Richard Yensen, Ph.D.
Director, Orenda Institute
Cortes Island, British Columbia
CANADA
Voice & FAX:(250) 935-6338
ryensen@orenda.org