When Therapy Alone Isn’t Cutting It: What New Research Says About Ketamine-Assisted Therapy (KAT)
- emileekrupa
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
If you’ve been doing the work—therapy, journaling, mindfulness, maybe even meds—and still feel stuck, you’re not broken.
You might just need a different tool.
A large new study looked at real-world outcomes from over 1,800 people receiving Ketamine-Assisted Therapy (KAT) across three established U.S. clinics. The results were clear:
When ketamine is combined with therapy, people with depression, anxiety, and PTSD get better. Not just a little better—markedly better.
Let’s Get Into the Data about Ketamine-Assisted Therapy (KAT)
This wasn’t a pharmaceutical study with hand-picked candidates. These were actual clients walking into real clinics—most of them had moderate to severe mental health symptoms, many of them were treatment-resistant.
Here’s what the researchers found:
Most clients received 4 to 6 ketamine sessions (lozenge or intramuscular injection), supported by trained therapists before, during, and after.
Over the course of care, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD dropped significantly—often by more than half.
Therapeutic support was not optional—it was a critical piece. The ketamine itself helped open the door, but therapy made the work stick.
This is not the same as recreational use or sitting alone in a dark room on ketamine. KAT is structured, therapeutic, and results-driven.
Why Ketamine with Therapy Works
Here’s what makes KAT different:
Ketamine lowers the brain’s default defenses—the same ones that often block progress in therapy.
It helps you access stuck or buried emotional material without being overwhelmed by it.
When paired with a trained therapist, that experience gets processed, integrated, and made useful—not just “trippy.”
Therapy alone can be powerful. But when someone is deeply shut down, emotionally stuck, or burned out from trying everything else, KAT creates a window that therapy can walk through.
Who Is This For?
Based on the study—and what we see in our clinic—KAT is especially effective for:
People who feel emotionally numb or detached
Those who struggle to access or express emotions
People who have done years of therapy with little movement
Those navigating trauma or grief that talk therapy hasn’t touched
Anyone feeling like they’ve “tried everything” and still feel stuck
What This Means for You
You don’t have to wait until you’re at rock bottom. The data shows KAT helps people at a wide range of distress levels—and often when nothing else has worked.
This study doesn’t just show that ketamine can help. It shows that when used with therapy, it becomes a powerful accelerator for mental health healing.
If you’re tired of managing symptoms and want to actually move through them, it might be time to explore something new—something backed by real data.
What to Do Next
At Koru Wellness in Utah County, our KAT sessions are guided by licensed therapists and built around your goals. We don’t just administer ketamine—we help you make the most of it.
Learn more about our KAT program
.
Citation: Wolfson et al. (2023). Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): Patient Demographics, Clinical Data, and Outcomes in Three Large Practices Administering Ketamine with Psychotherapy. Published in Frontiers in Psychiatry.
