How music enhances your ketamine experience
Music has the remarkable capacity to transform human life. It has been integral to the human experience for thousands of years. Recently, music has been studied in the medical community to help treat conditions like Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and chronic pain. Now, we are learning how important music is during your ketamine journey. Mendel Kalen, the Founder of Wavepaths, describes four distinct purposes that music serves during your infusion experience. Let’s take a look at each one!
Music facilitates the “peak experience.” The peak experience is often described as a feeling of wonder and/or transcendance. Carefully selected music has been correlated with patients having a peak experience in which they encounter feelings of bliss, union, and spirituality. Research has demonstrated that patients who have these experiences typically show the strongest response to treatment.
Music facilitates emotional release. Patients can experience different types of emotional release during a ketamine infusion. These emotional experiences are frequently associated with subjective improvement in well being. When carefully selected music is combined with ketamine, the evoked emotions tend to have a higher degree of personal and therapeutic meaning.
Music evokes autobiographical processing and mental imagery. Combining music with ketamine has been shown to influence neuronal connections between mental imagery and personal memory. In this way, patients can engage with important memories and emotions on a more intimate level. The music allows patients to experience more insight about these feelings, which is important to processing and integrating after your ketamine treatment.
Music provides comfort and reassurance. We are all familiar with types of songs or musical melodies that make us comfortable and reassured. Listening to music during ketamine therapy facilitates a supportive environment where patients feels safe. This comfort and safety allows patients to lower their psychological defenses and fully engage with the unfolding journey.
Maverick Medicine is proud to provide our patients with access to Wavepaths, a company which specializes in evidence based music for ketamine therapy. Wavepaths creates a unique, customized music program intended to enhance your experience and achieve your treatment goals. You can find more of Dr Kalen’s work on Google Scholar.
