Ketamine Infusion Therapy Collaborative Community Conversation:
Our Mission at MiNDSET
At MiNDSET, we are committed to advancing the field of interventional psychiatry through evidence-based practice, professional collaboration, and ethical innovation. Our mission centers on convening a community of healthcare providers dedicated to understanding ketamine infusion therapy’s potential while maintaining the highest standards of patient care and professional integrity.
We recognize that thousands of patients across Central Ohio have accessed ketamine infusion therapy as a life-saving intervention for treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other conditions. While most ketamine practices recommend concurrent psychotherapy based on research showing improved outcomes, few actively coordinate care with mental health providers. We see this as an opportunity to bridge that gap.
Our Commitment to Professional Excellence
As thought leaders in ketamine infusion therapy, we serve as curators of quality research and advocates for ethical, methodologically sound advancement of this emerging modality. We believe that collaboration—grounded in mutual respect, shared knowledge, and clinical competence—enhances patient outcomes while respecting each provider’s scope of practice.
We understand that many skilled therapists ask: “Can my client benefit from ketamine infusion therapy when I have limited knowledge of the treatment myself?” This question reflects the thoughtful, patient-centered approach we value in our professional community.
Evidence-Based Framework
Currently, no regulatory body requires concurrent therapy for ketamine infusion patients, nor do any organizations mandate specialized ketamine training for therapists treating these clients. This document represents our ongoing compilation of current research findings, presented not as directives, but as contributions to the evolving dialogue surrounding best practices in ketamine-adjacent care.
Our approach emphasizes that specialized training for therapists may offer value-added benefits but is not required for safe, effective treatment. We believe in empowering competent mental health providers with knowledge while respecting their clinical judgment and established therapeutic expertise.
This working document reflects our commitment to transparency, evidence-based practice, and collaborative growth in the field of interventional psychiatry. As of August 2025, these represent current findings for continued exploration and professional dialogue.
Key Distinction
Ketamine-Assisted Therapy = therapist present during infusion (we do NOT offer this) Ketamine-Adjacent Psychotherapy = separate therapy sessions before/after infusions (standard practice)
SPRAVATO (esketamine) is the FDA approved nasal spray formulation (we do NOT offer this)
Several online providers of ketamine will send the ketamine molecule in various formulations to people’s homes for at-home administration. (We do NOT offer this.)
Concurrent therapy is BETTER, but NOT Required
Study 1 – Yale Medicine Research: In several studies, more than half of participants show a significant decrease in depression symptoms after just 24 hours with IV ketamine alone. However, ketamine may be most effective when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) – indicating therapy enhances but isn’t necessary for basic efficacy.
Study 2 – Harvard/MGH Comparative Trial: 55 percent of those receiving ketamine had at least a 50 percent improvement in their self-reported depressive symptoms in a major study comparing ketamine to ECT, with no requirement for concurrent psychotherapy for effectiveness.
Study 3 – ScienceDirect Real-World Study: 54.93% of patients responded to the treatment in a five-year study of IV ketamine at an academic hospital, with significant reduction in depressive symptoms and suicide ideation – therapy wasn’t mentioned as a requirement.
Additional Evidence: Multiple systematic reviews confirm therapists using “standard therapeutic approaches achieve excellent outcomes” when applied concurrently to ketamine therapy
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- Written Exposure Therapy (2025): Standard WET combined with ketamine showed “large and durable symptom reductions”
- CBT Studies: Therapists provided standard 90-minute CBT sessions around ketamine infusions with “significant decrease in OCD symptoms”
- Shiroma et al. (2020) – Veterans with PTSD received IV ketamine plus prolonged exposure therapy from “nationally certified clinical therapists” with no ketamine-specific training, showing significant symptom reduction.
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Psychological Flexibility Research: We think this might be a threshold concept for psychotherapy as a field
Hayes et al. (2022) meta-analysis of 55,000 studies shows that psychological flexibility—adapting behavior to values rather than being controlled by thoughts and feelings—is the core mechanism making ALL therapy effective, regardless of technique.
Ketamine enhances this process. As an NMDA receptor antagonist enabling neuroplasticity, ketamine accelerates what therapists already do. Whether you use CBT, psychodynamic therapy, or EMDR, they all work by enhancing psychological flexibility.
Effective therapy helps people:
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- Hold thoughts/feelings lightly (as experiences, not directives)
- Tolerate discomfort without labeling it dangerous
- Clarify values and intentions
- Take committed action despite difficulty
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Bottom line: Ketamine biological action + standard therapeutic competence = enhanced outcomes through the same psychological flexibility mechanisms that make all therapy work.
Clinical Reality
Talk therapy is inherently high-risk – clients regularly disclose trauma, abuse, addiction, and profound shame. Ketamine doesn’t change this reality; it may accelerate disclosure or clarity, but requires the same therapeutic competence you already possess.
Ketamine works biologically to reduce depression, brain fog, and suicidal ideation – potentiating swifter therapeutic work, not fundamentally different work.
Ongoing important but uncomfortable point of inquiry: Are all providers within the Therapy Industrial Complex committed to moving clients swiftly to health and thusly no longer reliant on therapy sessions?
Bottom Line:
Ketamine Infusion Therapy alone is efficacious.
Licensed, competent therapists using standard approaches achieve BETTER outcomes for clients when providing therapy in their own area of expertise concurrently to ketamine infusion therapy.
No specialized training is required by any regulatory body or supported by research at this time.
We hypothesize that it might offer even MORE value to increase therapist education about how the ketamine molecule serves clients biologically.
We hypothesize that it might offer even MORE value to increase therapist education about how infusion experiences can be integrated strategically into therapy sessions. The embodied, felt-sense and emotion state vs. thinking state provided by ketamine infusion therapy can be epiphanic. Having some facility with these threshold concepts might be a powerful value-add.
***It is important to note, that the absence of MORE value does not constitute harm to clients.
