Three Concepts to Adopt Before Any Trippy Treatment
During a ketamine infusion (or micro dosing any psilocybin), it can be so easy to feel lost or confused. Because of ketamine’s dissociative properties, there is a chance you may see or feel things that could remind you of painful memories or traumas. But you know who and/or what they, so don’t let them control you. You need to be both passive and active during your trip to heal yourself.
This is why it’s important to have the right mindset and incorporate good practices to keep you anchored and focused. Here are three navigation tools you should master before your treatment. You will need to use these during a ketamine infusion to help you get the full benefits.
Prepare To Defeat Your PTSD Demons
Concept #1: Witness
The first concept is witnessing. By witnessing, I mean being the observer of whatever is coming up for you during that experience. You don’t necessarily have to get entangled with the experience, but simply be a witness. Remember that ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic, meaning that you’re going to be disconnecting the mind from the body. This means you will be able to observe and witness from that third party perspective.
Concept #2: Breathe
Another important and sometimes underestimated tool is breathing. In the field of emergency medicine, we talk about something called the ABC’s which means the Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. We all know we need to breathe to live, but what’s really fascinating is that the breath is both within your unconscious and conscious . For example, if you don’t think about breathing, then your body is going to unconsciously do it for you. But at the same time, you can influence and control your breathing.
Whenever something unpleasant comes up or you’re having a challenging ketamine experience, remember to take some deep breaths. When you take these deep, slow breaths, it actually increases your parasympathetic nervous system which is the part of your autonomic nervous system that allows you to rest and relax. It’s the opposite of that fight or flight response. So when you’re doing these deep breathing exercises, it’ll help you calm down.
Concept #3: Surrender
Finally, the third concept to incorporate is surrender. This means letting go of control, allowing and accepting whatever comes. When I say the word “surrender,” I don’t mean giving up because there’s a subtle difference. Surrendering is allowing and accepting whatever may happen and but also not resisting it. Trust that the ketamine is going to work for you. Trust that your unconscious mind will take you where you need to go. Simply allow, experience, and know that whatever happens is going to be what’s best for you.
Learning to surrender is no easy feat, especially because as humans, we want everything to be under our control. We want things to go the way we want them to go, we want to heal as quickly as possible, and so on. Which is why we encourage you to practice learning how to surrender before you step into the clinic. By incorporating good, mindful habits such as meditation and journaling, you’ll be able to understand the concept of surrendering more and keep yourself mentally strong throughout the treatment.
My thanks to Samuel Ko, MD, FACEP for his blog post where we found this.
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Soldier suicide leaves Veteran families with thousands of dollars of bills unpaid, mostly bank loans.
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Links for More Information:
- Go here for FDA-approved therapies
- Go here for drug-free PTSD abatement techniques
- Go here for suicide prevention tips
- Go here to download this guide in MS Word
- Go here to download this guide as a PDF
ABOUT ONCE A SOLDIER
Our Veterans are killing themselves in record numbers mostly due to PTSD. An overmatched VA can’t take care of them or their families. We will.
Soldier suicide leaves Veteran families with thousands of dollars of bills unpaid, mostly bank loans.
We are the only nonprofit standing with the families after a veteran suicide. Stand with us.
Our Mission: Become the preferred channel for donors, advocates and volunteers who care about veteran families left behind after a soldier suicide.
