How To Guide Your Patient Through A Difficult Ketamine Experience: A 6-Step Approach

In this blog, explore the six steps to help your patient navigate a challenging ketamine infusion experience. Plus learn about the intention setting, integration, and trusting in psychedelic ketamine journeys.

Nobody wants to have a challenging psychedelic ketamine therapy experience; this goes for neither you nor your patient. So what can you do to help your patient avoid or minimize the chance of a “bad trip”? In this blog, we go over a six step approach to help your patient navigate scary ketamine experiences. We also go over some of the most essential steps which include intention setting, integration of the ketamine experience, and trusting in the psychedelic ketamine journey.

When your patient knows where they are going, any hardships they face during the ketamine treatment can be more manageable.

Step 1: Have Your Patient Define Their Journey With An Intention

Have your patient set an intention. What is an intention? An intention is a desired goal, outcome, or direction that the patient hopes for during or after the ketamine infusion therapy. For some patients, it is a clear goal like “I want to have more pain free days,” for others it is a state of being such as “more loving to myself.” 

Why have the intention? To navigate or create a helpful mental framework about their ketamine experience requires not just preparation from a medical standpoint, but it also means psychologically preparing the patient; that includes setting the intention. 

You want to encourage your patient to have their intention very clear in their  mind's eye, which can help guide and define their psychedelic journey. There's this old saying, "If you know where you're going, you won't have a bad trip." Your patient’s intention for their ketamine therapy can help navigate a “bad trip” by minimizing the likelihood of experiencing something scary, or provide a context in which the scary or challenging experience is manageable.

Their intention acts as a compass which keeps them focused on where they are headed, even when things get tough.

Step 2: Encourage Your Patient To Use Their Intention As A Compass

Having an intention is not a 100% guarantee for smooth sailing, but it can be incredibly useful when they are going through challenging experiences. When they know where they are going, they have a destination to keep them focused no matter what they encounter during the infusion. 

Let’s use the analogy of a ship in the middle of a vast ocean. There can be thunderstorms and huge waves. There are no clear roads to lead them. But when the captain (your patient) uses their compass, they know exactly where they’re going. They will be able to take that ship through those storms. 

Your patient’s intention is like a compass. Therefore, even with the chances of a scary experience, they will be able to brace themselves through the storms and keep heading in the right direction.

When you define how you want to be throughout your ketamine treatment, this acts as an anchor that keeps you focused during challenging experiences.

Step 3: Tell Them Their Intention Is Also Their Anchor

Not only is their intention a compass, but it’s also an anchor. Not only do we encourage each of our patients to have an intention, we ask them to distill the intention down to one or two words. Why? So they can repeat the simple one or two words when the psychedelic experience gets challenging. Repeating in their mind these words can help ground them. Anchoring them as they weather the challenging experience. 

Another simple grounding tool to use is to have your patients use their breath. Sometimes what they encounter is so scary they can’t remember their intention. So remind them that if they encounter anything difficult, to take a slow deep breath and anchor themselves back to their intention. 

Although they define where they want to go with their intention, remind your patient to trust that what happens is what they are meant to experience.

Step 4: Remind Them To Trust & Let Go

Many patients will want to unconsciously or consciously control their ketamine experience and outcome, feeding into anxiety and fear about the experience itself. Encourage them to trust themselves and the process. Remind them they are the captain of their ship, continuing to use our nautical analogy. 

Although they define their intention and sail their ship, remind them they also need to let go of the outcome. This may seem like a paradox of choosing where you want to go, i.e. setting an intention, but also not being attached to the outcome! But just like a captain who trusts their compass, remind them that what they are going to experience is exactly what they need.

Prepare your patient for the possibility of a challenging ketamine experience, assuring them that you will be there to support them throughout and can stop the infusion if needed.

Step 5: Be There For Your Patient & Acknowledge The Possibility Of A Tough Journey 

Remind your patient that even if they have an intention and did all the prep, they could still have a challenging experience. Over the many years we’ve treated patients, we have learned that patients sometimes don’t get the experience they want but rather the experience they need. We tell our patient to trust they can handle whatever comes up and that they are ready to meet that challenge head on. 

You can never guarantee a ketamine experience will go a certain way, but you can guarantee you will be right beside them if the experience becomes too much. Remind them you can always stop the infusion, and that you or a staff member is there to hold a hand or pass a tissue. 

Integration of the ketamine experience, whether positive or challenging, is essential to maximize the therapeutic effect of the infusion.

Step 6: Have An Integration Plan

Good or bad, to maximize the therapeutic effect of the infusion, there needs to be integration of the experience. This is especially true if the experience was challenging and your patient doesn’t know what to make of it. What is integration? Integration is reflecting and acting upon the insights and lessons learned during the ketamine infusion. 

If you do not encourage your patient to integrate their experience, you will be doing them a disservice.. For some of you, the idea of this is not your cup of tea and for others you are excited about the thought of integrating psychedelic experiences. These concepts are foreign to many mainstream healthcare providers. But we argue set and setting and integration of ketamine experience are key and should be standard of care. Whatever you decide, continue to serve your patient by having someone in-house, virtual, or have them schedule an appointment with their therapist or an integration coach to integrate their experience. 

Explore more about what integration is and how you can help your patient with it here at our blog, How To Help Your Patients Integrate After Ketamine Infusions.

Remind your patients undergoing ketamine infusion that they are not alone and encourage them to trust the process and themselves.

Navigating The Ocean Waves: A Summary

The key to minimizing and navigating a challenging or scary ketamine infusion experience is to remember the therapy is more than just the infusion. It is a journey that starts with a patient setting an intention, using it as a compass and anchor throughout their psychedelic experience. 

Create a feeling of security and comfort by reminding them that they're not alone during the infusion. Remind them they can trust this process and more importantly trust in themselves. Finally, it is the integration of the experience that truly ties everything together and makes for transformational ketamine therapy. Just as we believe our patients can handle whatever they face during the ketamine infusion, we believe you too can handle whatever may come up for your patient!

Related Questions:

• How can I guide patients in setting their intentions for ketamine therapy?

Have your patient set an intention first and foremost. If they are new to this concept or hesitant, they may refuse or ask you what their intention should be. Encourage them to come up with one on their own. What they chose for themselves is the most powerful, rather than you suggesting one. We’ve found having a patient reflect, journal and meditate prior to their infusions can support them in deciding on an intention.

• How can I assist my patients during a challenging psychedelic experience?

Encouraging them to prepare for the ketamine experience can help going into the infusion. Preparing can include meditation, journaling, and avoiding violent media. You can also remind them to take deep breaths during the infusion and to repeat their intention to ground and anchor (as we suggested in Step 3). 

If you enjoyed this blog post, you might want to check out these as well:

How To Help Your Patients Through Challenging Ketamine Infusion Experiences

As a ketamine specialist, you will be dealing with patients who will face negative experiences. There are a few things that you can do to help alleviate their challenges, which we will talk about in this blog post.

The Importance of Set & Setting During Ketamine Infusions

Learn why you should care about “set and setting” when starting and running a successful ketamine infusion clinic here at our blog!

The 3 Tools You Need To Help Your Patients During A Ketamine Experience

Part of our patient’s treatment is the psychedelic ketamine experience itself. Going through the entire treatment can be quite a journey for your patients; a journey supported by you. In this blog, we talk about what YOU can do to help your ketamine patients in this transformative journey.

Explore the six steps to help your patient navigate a challenging ketamine infusion experience. Plus learn about the intention setting, integration, and trusting in psychedelic ketamine journeys.