Ketamine and Unpleasant Experiences and Jordan Peterson
Excerpt from Chapter 9 of The Revolutionary Ketamine
Some patients report “an unpleasant experience” after taking ketamine, likely because ketamine creates deep insights and openings to the psyche, helping us reestablish connections and honest truths that we may not want to open. By opening truths, we are given options to move ahead and explore why we hurt so badly. Ketamine treatments may go awry if conducted while acutely withdrawing from certain medications and alcohol. Psychologist Jordan Peterson famously described a bad experience with ketamine in the preface of his new book, Beyond Order: 12 more rules for life; he says, “I ceased using the benzodiazepine entirely in May 2019, trying two doses of ketamine within a week, as suggested by the psychiatrist with whom I consulted. Ketamine, a nonstandard anesthetic/psychedelic, sometimes has overwhelming and sudden positive effects on depression. It produced nothing for me but two ninety-minute trips to hell. I felt to my bones as if I had everything to feel guilty and ashamed about, with nothing gained by my positive experiences.” Jordan Petersen’s “hellish” experiences likely stem from the fact he suffered acute benzodiazepine withdrawal, which can kill a person. There is certainly more to his story, but it’s quite possible that Jordan Peterson would react differently to ketamine now that he is thankfully recovered from the effects of the benzodiazepines. Hopefully, you can appreciate that ketamine is not for everybody. I met Jordan Peterson and prefaced my question about his disdain for ketamine, and then I presented the idea of this book to him. He was exquisitely curious about the subject and politely asked me to send my book to his agent.
To better comprehend why some people may have an unsatisfactory experience with psychedelics like ketamine, it is essential to understand that the psychedelic experience connects us to many experiences. One of those experiences is suffering - deep visceral suffering. A poor experience conceivably stems from the person judging the experience versus just letting it happen. Many people’s personalities are developed to help them escape the pain. In other words, they are wired to escape the pain. The other thing that leads to an unpleasant experience is that the person does not have the proper guidance or environment. Psychedelic experiences are often directed by inexperienced guides posing as healers and shamans. This is why it is essential to have legitimate psychological therapy around ketamine or any psychedelic treatment. That being said, there are no “bad experiences” per se. There are only difficult ones whose meaning we have not yet understood and integrated into our lives. The pain, fear, or terror only surfaces because it is already there. Better to be aware of it and revisit it with awareness, strength, and a proper mindset.
The ketamine molecule does not “contain” a psychedelic experience per se; instead, your consciousness delivers the experience. Subjective descriptions of the ketamine experience include a sense of detachment from the body (dissociation), enhancement of insight into reality, and a sense of relaxation or well-being. A sub-anesthetic dose of ketamine is a powerful psychedelic medication that makes it possible to have a conscious experience. It is a journey that usually lasts about an hour. Ketamine gives the person a break from reality, which is one reason it is helpful. Ketamine can have very different effects depending on your expectations and the environmental setting. The desire to use ketamine to blow off steam and relax will generate a different experience than it would for someone seeking to correct a mental illness.
The ketamine experience resembles the plant psychedelics like ayahuasca in South America, DMT, or psilocybin. People have profound psychological and philosophical experiences with ketamine and ayahuasca, and many go on to make profound life changes after the experience, such as disconnecting from dysfunctional relationships, changing from miserable jobs, kick-starting new careers, enrolling in higher education, and more. There are many differences between the psychedelic experiences of ketamine, ayahuasca, or psilocybin. One difference between ketamine and ayahuasca is that a person generally describes the ketamine experience as more intense; it does not experience severe nausea and vomiting associated with the psychedelic plant.
Ketamine filters reality, so one gains an enhanced appreciation for the world outside of categorical, everyday knowledge. With psychedelics, patients have subjective experiences where they feel they have gained new insights into their understanding of reality, as though a curtain has been lifted or a wall removed. This feeling is not a sort of inebriation or intoxication. After being under the influence of ketamine, the world does not appear to fit into verbal labels and categories, and everything seems connected and not linear.
To put this in perspective, imagine that our brains resemble a communist country like North Korea, which is governed by an authoritarian regime that tries to ensure nobody learns about the outside world through the internet or television. Our brains are similar in how it allows information to enter and leave. Typically, our brains filter out specific thoughts and experiences that do not seem to fit our pattern or template of our quotidian experience. But when a person is experiencing ketamine, the brain realizes thoughts and information are abstract from reality. Consider the example: You may have an extreme fear of having a needle inserted into your vein. Even if you tell yourself that a tiny needle will save your life, your brain will not accept this information but fixate on how the needle will hurt you. Once that information from that outside world slips in, our brains quickly eradicate that knowledge. Under the influence of a psychedelic like ketamine, our brains filter out reality (the fear of needles in this case), so we can experience a different type of reality in which we each separate our thoughts and try to advance our personal goals. Often, the experience results in the person having less or no fear of needles.
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