A new ketamine-assisted therapy clinic has opened in Waterloo region. Here's how it works
CBC
WARNING: This story mentions suicide and overdose.
Waterloo region is home to a new clinic that offers a psychedelic treatment method for those suffering from deep-seated mental health conditions.
Field Trip Health is a private clinic offering ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) as well as therapy using MDMA and psilocybin.
The company operates all over Canada, including B.C., Quebec and eight locations in Ontario, including two new locations in Hamilton and Waterloo.
"It's not a magic bullet by any means," Ian Ruberry, CEO of Field Trip Health, said.
He said there's encouraging evidence that ketamine-assisted psychotherapy helps patients build "psychological resiliency."
Ketamine is a schedule 1 controlled drug labelled as an anesthetic. It's legally used by medical doctors and veterinarians. In the past decade, though, some people have discovered its medicinal, and recreational, benefits.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy involves taking a controlled dose of ketamine under the supervision of a professional, and then undergoing a talk therapy session.
It works in the brain by increasing what's called neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, which is the brain's ability to form new neural connections.
Field Trip Health promotes its use for stubborn cases of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic pain, addiction and eating disorders.
"The ketamine provides a biological response for depression, and then the therapy helps them develop more psychological resilience so that they're less likely to fall into depression moving forward," said Dr. Sheehan Chowdury, chief psychiatrist at Field Trip Health.
KAP is a potential option when sufferers have tried at least two different medical treatments and show little to no improvement, known as treatment resistance, which Chowdury said is more common than people think.
"Fifty per cent of people will fail one of the first antidepressants that they try, and then many others will fail a second one that they try," Chowdury said. "So there's a lot of people with depression or severe mental health difficulties who are not getting better."
KAP isn't a new treatment in Ontario, but Waterloo region residents now have closer access, and that's what Ruberry said it's really all about.
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