Psychedelic Mental Health
Psychedelic Mental Health
Psychedelic Practice, Research & Advocacy
⌘K
Psychedelic Mental Health
recovery

Spotlight: Smart Recovery & Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy

On Psychedelics in Recovery
Michael DeMarco, PhD

by Michael DeMarco, PhD

Dr. Michael DeMarco is a licensed mental health and family therapist and has pursued additional training in the use of psychedelic medicines for those struggling with substance use disorders. He emphasizes that there has been a significant amount of research about the use of Ketamine and other medications over the course of decades, and it's important to know how to put such research in an appropriate context.

SmartRecovery Podcast: Psychedelic Assisted Therapy: Research and Practice

See Also:

Post by @PsychedelicInstitute@mastodon.social
View on Mastodon

Post by @PsychedelicInstitute@mastodon.social
View on Mastodon

More like this

Spotlight: How Ketamine Acts on the Brain - Microtubules & An Orch-Or Perspective

Ketamine has a psychedelic effect and an anesthetic modulation of brain microtubules. How this mechanism works, according to the principles of the Orchestrated Objective Reduction, shared by the Penrose-Hameroff (Orch-OR) consciousness model.

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"

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."