Psychedelic Mental Health
Psychedelic Mental Health
Psychedelic Practice, Research & Advocacy
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Psychedelic Mental Health
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Spotlight: Ketamine Integration Chaplaincy: A Novel Spiritual Care Approach to Psychedelic Integration (2025)

"Although ketamine's mode of action is distinct from classic psychedelics, patients frequently report similar alterations in consciousness, including experiences described as spiritual or religious"
Michael DeMarco, PhD

by Michael DeMarco, PhD

"Ketamine and esketamine are regularly prescribed in the United States as pharmaceutical interventions for treatment-resistant depression. Although ketamine's mode of action is distinct from classic psychedelics, patients frequently report similar alterations in consciousness, including experiences described as spiritual or religious. This article provides an overview of the Ketamine Integration Chaplaincy (KIC) program developed at a university teaching hospital, which provides spiritual care and integration support to patients receiving ketamine. This pilot program offers virtual, one-on-one support to patients and may be one of the first instances of a major hospital providing ketamine integration modeled on spiritual care."

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Spotlight: Jeffrey Becker - The Neurobiology Underlying Transcendence Induced by Ketamine and the Psychedelics (2026)

While psychedelics selectively amplify activity in specific neural circuits, ketamine acts on a receptor found widely throughout the brain. This raises a key question: how can a drug targeting such a common receptor produce such distinct and powerful subjective effects?

Spotlight: Yale presents “New Insights into the Neural Mechanisms of NMDA Receptor Antagonists Driving Rapid-Acting Antidepressant Effects” (Cichon, 2026)

"ketamine works on depression within minutes of infusion, lasting multiple days, if not weeks... amazing that it was classified as an anesthetic... twice as good as SSRI standards of care... leads to new formation of synapse, underlying sustaining mechanisms..."

Spotlight: "A Blueprint for Implementing Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Palliative Care: Design, Process, and Treatment Patterns of a Real-World Clinical Program" (Horowitz, et al, 2026)

"To our knowledge, this is the largest published cohort of KAP in an academic palliative care context. Our Pal-KAP experience suggests that KAP can be delivered safely and ethically, providing a practical blueprint for programs exploring innovative ways to address Psychospiritual distress (PSD)"

Rapid Improvement in Consciousness After Low-Dose Ketamine in a Patient With Acute Confusion: A Case Report (Khalafallah Khalid, et al, 2025)

"While anecdotal, such findings align with emerging literature and warrant further exploration of ketamine's neurocognitive effects beyond its established indications."

Psychedelic Experiences After Bereavement Improve Symptoms of Grief: The Influence of Emotional Breakthroughs and Challenging Experiences (Low, et al, 2025)

"Findings provide preliminary evidence that support the development of a psychedelic-assisted therapy protocol to target symptoms of grief. Psychedelic-assisted therapy might offer an alternative to current grief treatment options. "

Intravenous ketamine versus esketamine for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Elmosalamy, et al, 2025)

"Based on the currently available comparative evidence, which is almost entirely observational, IV ketamine and IN esketamine show comparable acute response and remission rates, though IV ketamine may act faster."