Ketamine-Assisted and Culturally Attuned Trauma Informed Psychotherapy as Adjunct to Traditional Indigenous Healing: Effecting Cultural Collaboration in Canadian Mental Health Care.
Sherry-Anne Muscat, Geralyn Dorothy Wright, Kristy Bergeron, Kevin W. Morin, Courtenay Richards Crouch, Glenn Hartelius
Behavioral Sciences August 31, 2021 DOI: 10.3390/bs11090118 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Ketamine therapy culturally attuned trauma-informed psychotherapy |
| Topics | Ketamine Esketamine Psychedelic-assisted therapy |
| Keywords | First nations Indigenous health Colonialism Complex developmental trauma Culturally informed care Trauma-informed care |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key points | Argues that culturally attuned trauma-informed psychotherapy paired with ketamine therapy may improve mental health outcomes for Indigenous people by integrating into Indigenous health systems and addressing intergenerational complex developmental trauma. |
Abstract
Ketamine therapy with culturally attuned trauma-informed psychotherapy in a collaborative cross-cultural partnership may provide a critical step in the operationalization and optimization of treatment effectiveness in diverse populations and may provide a foundation for an improved quality of life for Indigenous people. Decolonizing Indigenous health and wellbeing is long overdue, requiring an equal partnership between government and Indigenous communities, built upon an aboriginal culture holistic foundation of balance of mind, body, social and spiritual realms, and within the context of historical and lived experiences of colonialism. Culturally attuned trauma-informed psychotherapy paired with ketamine-a fast-acting antidepressant that typically takes effect within 4 hours, even in cases of acute suicidality-may be uniquely qualified to integrate into an Indigenous based health system, since ketamine's therapeutic effects engage multiple neuropsychological, physiological, biological, and behavioral systems damaged by intergenerational complex developmental trauma. Ketamine holds the potential to serve as a core treatment modality around which culturally engaged treatment approaches might be organized since its brief alteration of normal waking consciousness is already a familiar and intrinsic element of healing culture in many Indigenous societies. There is great need and desire in Indigenous communities for respectful and sacred partnership in fostering more effective mental health outcomes and improved quality of life.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on ketamine, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| From PCP to MXE: a comprehensive review of the non-medical use of dissociative drugs. | 2014 | Historical analysis | |
| A Dendrite-Focused Framework for Understanding the Actions of Ketamine and Psychedelics | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Neuroscience and the Near-Death Experience: Roles for the NMSA-PCP receptor, the sigma receptor and the endopsychosins | 1990 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| A unified model of ketamine's dissociative and psychedelic properties. | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| An Integrative Approach to Ketamine Therapy May Enhance Multiple Dimensions of Efficacy: Improving Therapeutic Outcomes With Treatment Resistant Depression. | 2021 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- Toward Synergies of Ketamine and Psychotherapy Frontiers in Psychology March 25, 2022
- Investigating the associations of acute psychedelic experiences and changes in racial trauma symptoms, psychological flexibility, and substance use among People with Racial and Ethnic Minoritized Identities in the United States and Canada. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment June 1, 2023
- Psychedelics to Relieve Psychological Suffering Associated with a Life-Threatening Diagnosis: Time for a Canadian Policy Discussion. Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante May 1, 2023
- Intercultural pathways to indigenous mental health: the integration of ayahuasca in community care in the Yaqui intercultural medicine clinic in Sonora, Mexico Frontiers in Public Health October 9, 2026
- Psychedelics for the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: A Narrative Review of the Literature. Substance use & addiction journal 2026
and 1 more in the library
Cites 11
- Patients’ Accounts of Increased “Connectedness” and “Acceptance” After Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 19, 2017
- Psychedelics and connectedness Psychopharmacology August 9, 2017
- Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): Patient Demographics, Clinical Data and Outcomes in Three Large Practices Administering Ketamine with Psychotherapy Journal of Psychoactive Drugs March 15, 2019
- Psychedelic-Assisted Group Therapy: A Systematic Review Journal of Psychoactive Drugs March 15, 2019
- The role of Indigenous knowledges in psychedelic science Journal of Psychedelic Studies December 13, 2019
and 6 more in the library