By Dr. Scott Allen, MD
Many clinicians can safely administer ketamine. What makes Satori different is our commitment to the integration process. When we speak of ‘psychedelic integration’, we mean pre-treatment preparation, psychologic support during the treatment, and psychologic care after the session. For the purposes of our treatment, we use the principles learned from other psychedelic medicines and apply them to ketamine therapy. Because the medicine is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced, making sense of the visionary insights is what leads to lasting changes in your life.
What is psychedelic integration therapy?
Psychedelic integration connects the dots of meaning
Those of you who have been through the ketamine process know that the ketamine-world can often feel more real than ordinary life. This phenomenon is ‘gnosis,’ which means ‘knowledge of mysteries.’ That’s one of the reasons you come to Satori—to connect seemingly unrelated insights and know the mysteries of your mind.
Die before you die?
Use integration to learn what’s really important to you
An example of integration comes up with the concept of death. Since ketamine is so safe, nobody physically dies during the treatment. But patients often get a sense that they ‘die’. This is commonly referred to as ‘ego death’. In psychology, our egos are the part of our minds that are responsible for our personalities and the sense of being an individual. This is why ketamine and psychedelic medicine can be so powerful! Nobody comes to Satori because they’re feeling awesome about their internal world. When the old self undergoes a process of death, not only do we see that death isn’t so scary, we also kill off the thought patterns that bring us into therapy in the first place.
Once the old ego dies, we have an opportunity to build new thought patterns. It’s a form of personal transformation and rebirth into a new self.
How we do integration
Integration can take many forms. At Satori, we make sense of the ketamine experience with you in the clinic, so that the insights you gain during therapy—the gnosis—is carried with you when you go home. We also encourage patients to journal, draw, meditate, and talk about the experience with close friends, family, or a therapist. The durable insights will emerge and they’ll be unique to you.
We also offer group integration sessions monthly. With COVID still hanging over us, we’ll be holding the integration sessions on Zoom. March’s session will be free to all who want to join. This is an opportunity for ketamine patients to build camaraderie with others who have been through the experience, and also for loved ones to gain more insight into the process.
Integration is what changes ketamine from an ordinary medical procedure to a transformational experience!