What Does It Feel Like to Have a KAP Session?

What does it feel like to have a Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) session? For many, the experience is both deeply grounding and profoundly transformative.  Unlike a recreational psychedelic experience (or even a ketamine infusion clinic), KAP places the therapeutic relationship at the center, combining the neurobiological effects of ketamine with the guidance of a skilled therapist. Sessions are designed to support clients in exploring their inner world, uncovering new insights, and creating lasting change through integration work in the days that follow. 

For patients with treatment-resistant symptoms, KAP offers depression relief, long-term anxiety reduction, and improved neuroplasticity. That means it makes it easier to make the changes you need to make when you need to make them.

“Nothing is an elixir. However, psychedelics can assist us in remaining curious in the face of fear – therefore, more able to face pain, which gives us an inroad to healing.” – Dayna Wood, EDS, LMHC, and REAT

How Do You Prepare For A KAP Session? 

Preparation for KAP begins long before your first administration of ketamine. There is time for emotional integration and processing built-in, both before and after your psychedelic experience, and your guide will be with you at each step of the way. 

First, you’ll go through your intake appointments. Each will take about 90 minutes, and this is where our medical team, Journey Clinical, will assess whether Ketamine is safe for you, prescribe the medicine, and monitor your progress. Then, you will do an intake with a therapist on our team. Your guide assesses how and why KAP might be useful for you. The intake is important for safety reasons and because it gives your provider the context to determine whether or not KAP is the right treatment in your mental health journey.

Next, you’ll have at least one preparation session in advance. This will take at least 60 minutes, and bring you to a comfortable understanding about your upcoming experience. This is a great time to be openly curious, ask your burning questions, and learn in advance how ketamine therapy may impact your mind, body, and spirit. It is also a time for you to set your intentions before going into your dosing session.

Finally, you’re ready to undertake your ketamine journey. You have an idea of what it will physically feel like, your therapist has prepared you for what it might emotionally feel like, and you understand what goes into each step of the process. You’re armed with all the information you need.

How Can I Tell If KAP Is Right For Me? 

Without knowing the specifics of who you are, what you’ve experienced, and how you’d like to move forward, it can be hard to determine whether ketamine is the right treatment option for you. That’s why there is so much preparation and guidance in the process of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, we want it to be highly tailored to you and your personal psychology. 

But since you’re curious and brave enough to ask, there are certain symptoms that KAP has proven to be particularly effective with. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy can be transformative for patients who are seeking: 

• Therapy For Anxiety Relief. Ketamine is far more than its reputation as a recreational drug. In a therapeutic setting, many people living with anxiety have found meaningful and sometimes unexpected relief. When administered in carefully measured doses under medical supervision, ketamine can create a temporary altered state of consciousness that helps loosen rigid patterns of anxious thinking and opens the door to deeper emotional healing.
• Therapy For Treatment-Resistant Depression. Ketamine therapy represents a new path for those struggling with depression, particularly individuals who haven’t found relief through traditional antidepressants. By offering rapid improvement in symptoms and enhancing neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to form new connections—ketamine creates an opportunity for lasting change. Its capacity to briefly shift consciousness can interrupt unhelpful thought patterns and, within the safety of a therapeutic setting, support meaningful emotional processing and healing.
• Therapy For Addiction. A history of addiction doesn’t preclude you from the benefits of ketamine therapy. In fact, many addicts (whether active or in recovery) have experienced huge benefits from undergoing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Some patients have reported lessened cravings, and even cessation of their addictive tendencies entirely after ketamine-assisted therapy.

What Happens During Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy?

Once you’ve gone through your intake and preparation sessions, it’s time to actually take ketamine and go on a guided experience with your therapist. Although ketamine is central to our experiences in KAP, you’ll receive your dosing session in the middle of your treatment plan rather than the beginning or the conclusion. This is both to take advantage of your improved neuroplasticity after a ketamine session, and to compassionately guide you through a powerful and potentially emotional experience.

1. Arrive & orient — Review informed consent, intentions, and set/setting; confirm you’ve brought your prescribed ketamine lozenges.
2. Set the space — Settle into a calm room (blanket, pillow, eye mask, headphones/playlist).
3. Baseline check — You will take your vitals (BP/HR) and share any last-minute concerns.
4. Guided settling — Your therapist will guide you through brief breathwork, a  body scan, or meditation to ground and focus intention.
5. Dose — You will self-administer the prescribed lozenge(s).
6. Journey — You will recline with eyeshades and headphones and allow the inner experience to unfold. This takes 2-3 hours.
7. Therapeutic support — Your therapist remains present, offering grounding and minimal guidance as needed and any touch only with prior consent.
8. Re-entry & grounding — As effects subside, you will  remove eyeshades/headphones, hydrate, have a light snack if helpful, and do a brief check of your vitals.
9. Initial processing — You may have a short debrief to note themes, emotions, images, or insights.
10. Plan integration — You will schedule a 60-minute integration session within the next 1–3 days and outline home practices to make use of the neuroplasticity window.

Note: In KAP, therapists do not prescribe, dispense, or administer ketamine; clients work with a medical prescriber, bring their own medication, and self-administer in session. We partner with Journey Clinical to provide our patients with the medical expertise necessary for their ketamine journey.

How Do You Find A KAP Therapist?

We have therapists on our team that offer Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, OCD, and trauma. Our intake specialist will answer your questions, explain the KAP process, and complete a screening to make sure it’s appropriate for you. They will then match you with a therapist who fits your needs, preferences, and goals.

Click here to schedule your initial consultation and get matched up with a therapist.

Sunny Ebsary is an educator, multi-modal artist, and writer specializing in the intersection of myth and mental health. Sunny’s writing walks the line between poetic and logical, giving readers a chance to interface with the mind and imagination. Sunny’s been putting pen to paper since he was a child, writing everything from albums, novels, and plays, to essays, interactive games, and of course, many articles! While studying both psychology and writing, he realized his real passion in life was helping others unlock their creative spark. Whether he’s leading a D&D game, directing a production, or diving deep into the brain, you can be sure Sunny will be ushering you toward finding meaning in your life.