Queer Love and Alternative Therapy: A Look at MDMA And Ketamine

While MDMA and ketamine are popular party drugs, both have the opportunity to do some incredible good as therapeutic medications. Ketamine therapy is currently legal, unlike MDMA therapy, which is still pending FDA approval. But what’s the real difference between both drugs and their use in therapy? And why should specifically queer people look into ketamine or MDMA therapy? We’ve got the answers:

Ketamine Therapy

Ketamine therapy originates from its use as an anesthetic and for pain management. Doctors learned that ketamine also has an anti-inflammatory effect that occasionally leaves patients feeling better mentally after coming out of anesthesia. This is because chronic pain and inflammation are highly correlated with depression, and once those problems are solved, people usually feel a lot less depressed. 

Corinne Bailey, LCSW, a ketamine therapist with My Denver Therapy, explained this inflammation phenomenon, saying that, “What we find in brains and nervous systems that are very depressed, that are wracked with trauma and panic or anxiety, even things like grief and burnout, the nervous system is packed with inflammation. It’s trying to heal but it can’t because we’ve got to keep moving, as our world moves fast.” 

While with talk therapy, it takes a lengthy amount of time to work through PTSD and treatment-resistant depression, ketamine therapy is proven to be as helpful as 10 years of talk therapy in six sessions. This is because, as Bailey explained, “If we are less in pain in general, we’re automatically in a better mood.  So once that is taken care of, folks have this rebuilding effect.” 

In addition to this anti-inflammatory effect, ketamine is an NMDA receptor antagonist, which is a type of drug that prevents the binding of glutamate, the chemical in our brain that works with adrenaline and cortisol and is the most excitatory neurotransmitter, which often ties it to anxiety and our brains working overtime. As ketamine turns off this receptor, it allows us to allow our brain time to heal, as well as rethink the systems we have ingrained in our psyche. 

“It is like a hard reboot of your computer, but in your brain. Have you ever hit the power button on your computer, and then it’s like ‘No, don’t do that. Then it shuts down. Then it comes back up with the blue screen?’ The day that you’re taking ketamine is that screen and then for three to four days after we have neurogenesis. So that setup screen, that’s when you’re literally in that narrative that said, ‘I’m not good enough,’ I can actually call that into question now, and be more curious about it. It’s not set in stone anymore,” Bailey explains. 

Due to this ability to rework preconceived notions about ourselves, ketamine therapy is incredibly helpful for queer people and people of other minority groups. Trauma is common for people in the queer community, as it comes from “systemic discrimination and oppression. It comes from a lack of freedom and autonomy. It comes from consistent abuse and neglect and violence against communities, and how that trickles down into microaggressions and affects people on a physical, relational, biological, cellular level,” Bailey says. Ketamine therapy can directly tackle this trauma in a much faster and cheaper way than talk therapy, making it much more effective and accessible for queer people. 

Usually, the process of ketamine therapy only takes about six to eight months, with a yearly check-up session after the process. At My Denver Therapy, these two-to-three-hour sessions start with an evaluation by a nurse practitioner, who scans for anything that might interfere with ketamine therapy such as schizophrenia or active mania in bipolar people. Bailey has people practice journaling in order to become more in touch with their subconscious which helps get the most out of their ketamine sessions. 

After a nurse takes their vitals, the patients will set an intention and take their dose of ketamine with an eye shade on as they are guided through a meditation by their therapist. During the meditation, Bailey explained that she often stays quiet and works through the session with the patient after they come out of it. Then they often work together to break down what the client experienced and what it might mean.

MDMA Therapy

Currently, in clinical trials, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is being used to treat PTSD. Erin Carpenter, LCSW, an MDMA-trained therapist at Psychadelic Growth in Boulder, described the way MDMA is beneficial in therapy, saying “It down-regulates the fear center in the brain, so it softens those psychological defenses, that are there for very good reason, but make it difficult to open up and talk about or experience or process any kind of trauma, so that folks can explore that material, see it in a different light, make connections with that it in a way that is really hard to do with regular talk therapy.”

Chemically, MDMA therapy works by boosting oxytocin and working with serotonin receptors in the brain, which creates a positive and loving introspection that allows people to work through their issues from a more positive perspective than they might be able to in talk therapy alone. 

Similarly to ketamine therapy, MDMA therapy could be incredibly beneficial to the queer community specifically as it allows people to work through traumas and mindsets that have been deeply internalized. “MDMA is really, really helpful with bringing to the surface thoughts, feelings, experiences, and patterns of being that have been shoved under the surface. Which a lot of people, queer, minority, or not, sometimes feel like they have to mask or feel some internalized shame based on their life experiences. MDMA can help soften those edges and bring those things up in a way that’s more open-minded, loving, accepting. Working with those parts of themselves to see how it can integrate with the rest of their lives,” Carpenter explains. 

In terms of how an MDMA therapy process would look, before even taking a dose there would be several talk therapy sessions with a therapist to make sure the client feels safe and trusts their therapist. On dosing day, the session would be around six to eight hours, but would otherwise be similar to the treatment sessions for ketamine, with the patient sitting with an eyeshade and headphones on while the drug is active. 

But what’s the difference between these two drugs, and the positive therapeutic experiences they could create? Carpenter explains it beautifully: “Ketamine is a dissociative. It gives you space to look at your issues or your problems from a distance and get new perspectives. MDMA brings you closer to your experience, which can be overwhelming, but it has that downregulation of the fear response and the anxiety response. It kind of amplifies what’s already going on, but it can do it in a really safe kind of way.”

For both of these therapies, it is incredibly important to trust your therapist. Make sure that they are certified and that you are safe. These therapies are emerging into the world of wellness, so it is possible that people may not be truthful about their qualifications. If you plan on looking into psychedelic therapies, you should be very aware of this danger and ask your providers about their qualifications and clarify consent. 

Lastly, psychedelics often belong to a cultural history, and it is important to approach psychedelic therapies such as MDMA and ketamine therapy with respect and a sense of appreciation for those cultural histories that furthered our understanding of psychedelics. 

Bailey encourages those who use ketamine to give back to their communities by volunteering or providing testimonies to the clinics where they did ketamine treatment, continuing the spirit of reciprocity and respect that is characteristic of psychedelics.