“Angry at the Wrong Thing:” Queering Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for Clients Experiencing Body Image and Eating Distress
Jessalyn Maguire
Studies in Clinical Social Work Transforming Practice Education and Research June 26, 2024 DOI: 10.1080/28376811.2024.2371792 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Esketamine Ketamine Psychedelic-assisted therapy |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | Argues that ketamine's anxiolytic and dissociative features, within a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy context, can cocreate a safe setting for client-directed psycho-spiritual exploration, and proposes "societal body dysphoria" as a tool for clinicians to recontextualize internalized body ideals rooted in white supremacy. A case report illustrates how KAP may facilitate deconstruction of societal constructs and alleviate distress. |
Abstract
Unlike classic serotonergic psychedelics, whose psychoactive shifts are recognized as having therapeutic value, ketamine’s perceptual effects are often overshadowed by its rapid antidepressant properties. However, within a ketamine assisted psychotherapeutic (KAP) context, ketamine’s distinct anxiolytic and dissociative features can cocreate a safe setting for client-directed psycho-spiritual exploration, including around body image and feeding disturbances. Eating disorders affect approximately 9% of Americans, and present a significant concern for LGBTQ2SIA+ community. This paper outlines a KAP framework, for further study, that is foundationally queer and grounded in postcolonial and intersectional feminist theories. This paper introduces societal body dysphoria, as a tool for clinicians to recontextualize how unrealistic ideals, identified as a societal distortion rooted in white supremacy, are individually internalized and collectively enforced through self-policing, with the belief that adherence will yield access to power and resources. Within this framework, a case report presents an example of how KAP can facilitate the deconstruction of societal constructs and alleviate distress.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on ketamine and psychedelic-assisted therapy, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, psychedelic methodologies, and the impregnable value of the subjective—a new and evolving approach | 2024 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Making Play Safe Again: Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy with Traumatized Autistic Adults | 2026 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Dance of the four bodies: an enactive-individuative approach to ketamine assisted psychotherapy | 2026 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- Ketamine-assisted psychotherapies for mental disorders: A historical overview and systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review February 2, 2026
- Queer healing in altered states: A critical interpretive synthesis of psychedelic therapy in queer and non-binary individuals Journal of Psychedelic Studies October 22, 2025
Cites 27
- The Subjective Effects of Psychedelics Are Necessary for Their Enduring Therapeutic Effects. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science December 10, 2020
- Do the dissociative side effects of ketamine mediate its antidepressant effects? Journal of Affective Disorders February 18, 2014
- Inclusion of people of color in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: a review of the literature BMC Psychiatry July 31, 2018
- 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
- Therapeutic Potentials of Ketamine and Esketamine in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and Eating Disorders (ED): A Review of the Current Literature Brain Sciences June 27, 2021
and 22 more in the library