Psychedelics are not, by themselves, reliable agents of change. Rather, psychedelics can offer moments of revelation and epiphany that can be leveraged into change.

It’s right in the name: psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is what the psychedelics are there to assist. Psychotherapy is the lever.

One colloquial way to describe a psychedelic dose of ketamine is entering a k-hole. There are various dosages people may use in the course of their work with the medicine. A low psycholytic dose can be used to create the feeling of a gentle meditation. Sometimes patient and therapist may mutually decide on a full psychedelic dose, and it may beget a very surreal experience, much like a lucid dream that seems quite bizarre, in which the person does not have full use of their faculties and might even lose sight of where they are. That is the trip, and k-hole is not a terribly inaccurate description of that experience.

One key difference between recreational versus therapy-focused use of ketamine isn’t the absence of a k-hole but rather a thoughtful selection and curation of the k-hole. There are patients who prepare to enter the k-hole weeks before they ingest the........

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