How is Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Useful in Mental Health?

Ketamine molecule illustration by Ben Mills. Creative Commons.

Ketamine is an approved and commonly used medicine for anesthesia in Ukraine and the US. Ketamine has also been studied and come into use for mental health conditions. Ketamine has antidepressant properties, and the combination of ketamine with psychotherapy has shown efficacy in treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. This therapy, with a physician administering ketamine and psychotherapists facilitating and helping patients integrate the experience, is known as ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). 

HUT is developing a comprehensive therapist training curriculum for group KAP, which will be piloted with a licensed ketamine clinic in Kyiv. Guided by clinicians and therapists with experience in KAP, the pilot program will train 8 Ukrainian psychotherapists to facilitate group KAP sessions. The pilot will include therapists who treat veterans, a group with high rates of major depression and PTSD. 

The scale of the mental health need in Ukraine is immense: virtually everyone in Ukraine has experienced traumatic stress from the war, and the World Health Organization estimates that 10 to 15 million Ukrainians will need professional psychological support. Solutions like group therapy, which maximize resources by going beyond a 1-to-1 patient-to-provider model, are essential to address this need.

After analyzing outcomes from the pilot, HUT intends to expand KAP training to more therapists. With ketamine’s legal status and availability in Ukraine, this training program can have a real and immediate impact.