Skip to content

Ketamine Enhanced Psychotherapy: Preliminary Clinical Observations on Its Effectiveness in Treating Alcoholism.

Eli Kolp, Harris L. Friedman, M. Scott Young, Evgeny Krupitsky

The Humanistic Psychologist 2006 DOI: 10.1207/s15473333thp3404_7 (opens in new tab)

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Case study Case report Peer reviewed
Sample size 2
Population Individuals with alcoholism
Interventions Ketamine psychotherapy
Topics Esketamine Ketamine
Citations 38
Key findings The author reports that a series of U.S. clinical trials and two case studies indicate ketamine-assisted psychotherapy helped individuals achieve abstinence, which the author attributes to ketamine's transpersonal effects. The author argues that formal research on ketamine psychotherapy for alcoholism is needed in the United States.

Abstract

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic widely used by physicians in the United States and also a psychedelic drug that physicians can legally prescribe off-label within the United States for other therapeutic purposes. It has been used in Russia and elsewhere to successfully treat alcoholism and other psychological or psychiatric problems, but has not been researched for this purpose in the United States. Results of a series of clinical trials using ketamine for treating alcoholism in the United States are retrospectively reported, along with 2 case studies of how psychotherapy facilitated by this substance helped two individuals achieve abstinence through ketamine's transpersonal effects. Considering the massive problems caused by alcoholism, the need to begin formal research studies on ketamine psychotherapy for alcoholism is emphasized.

Comparable studies

Other case reports and case series on ketamine, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The destruction of the lower urinary tract by ketamine abuse: a new syndrome? Young recreational abusers of street-ketamine in Hong Kong referred to urology units 2008 Retrospective case series n = 59
Electroconvulsive Therapy, Ketamine, and Esketamine in a Patient with Major Depressive Disorder and Multiple Comorbidities: A Case Report over 10-year Treatment from Adolescence to Adulthood. A patient with treatment-resistant depression and comorbid generalized anxiety... 2025 Case report n = 1
Treatment of compulsive behaviour in eating disorders with intermittent ketamine infusions Chronic and treatment-resistant eating disorder patients 1998 Case series n = 15
Oral Administration of the NMDA Receptor Antagonist S-Ketamine as Add-On Therapy of Depression: A Case Series Four depressed patients taking standard antidepressants 2009 Case series n = 4
A longitudinal case series of IM ketamine for patients with severe and enduring eating disorders and comorbid treatment‐resistant depression Patients with enduring eating disorders and treatment-resistant depression 2021 Case series n = 4

Citations in the library

Cited by 27

and 22 more in the library

Cites 14

and 9 more in the library

Related reading

Explore topics

Esketamine Ketamine