The Ketamine Spiritual Experience: Exploring Profound States of Consciousness

First developed in 1962, ketamine has been and continues to be used as a general anesthetic. However, a growing body of research has highlighted its therapeutic benefits, helping to ease the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. (1)

Ketamine is often administered in regulated clinics, though versions of the drug can be prescribed for at-home use. While everyone’s experience with ketamine is unique, there are some common themes around spirituality, consciousness, and neural plasticity that are worth exploring.

How Does Ketamine Work?

Ketamine works by blocking NMDA receptors in the brain – receptors that help keep our thoughts, perceptions, and sense of self organized and steady. The brain is built to rewire, learn, and adapt over a lifetime, but it doesn’t always stay equally flexible. Over time, through trauma, chronic stress, or even simple routine, those pathways can become more rigid, and we can start to feel “stuck,” as if the mind is running the same grooves on repeat.

Neural pathways are hardwired to keep us in a state of normalcy and predictability. But, like a wagon wheel wearing a groove into the same path, our neural circuits can get stuck in familiar ruts, even ones that may be unhelpful. Ketamine essentially smooths out those tracks, giving the mind room to move differently, to see old patterns in a new light, make fresh connections, and feel mentally free again.

Themes of a Spiritual Ketamine Experience

A spiritual experience of sorts isn’t guaranteed with ketamine, but there are common themes that often appear in reports from people who have participated in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Although spirituality is difficult to quantify, it has been studied in clinical trials, such as one conducted at the Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, United Kingdom. According to their study, “ketamine can acutely induce mystical and psychedelic effects…the acute ketamine experiences included… ‘meaningful, mystical and spiritual experiences.’

These experiences can be hard to imagine in theory, but here are some ways that ketamine-assisted therapy (KAP) can bring on the feelings of a spiritual experience. 

Ego Dissolution and the Feeling of Oneness

Ego dissolution – a commonly reported effect of taking ketamine – refers to the phenomenon of your usual sense of self falling away or dissolving. Your mind stops tracking reality, memory, and identity as it normally does, leaving a sense of pure presence. In this state, feelings of oneness with the world often emerge, accompanied by a profound sense of connection to all things.

Out-of-Body Experiences and Altered Perceptions of Self

Ketamine can temporarily loosen our attachment to the physical body, offering a unique perspective on the self. Just like repetitive thought patterns, our bodies hold postural and energetic patterns. As the usual boundaries of sensation and identity soften, people often report feeling lifted out of their bodies or perceiving themselves from a new vantage point. 

Encounters with Archetypes and Universal Intelligence

Some people report encountering universal intelligence and archetypes defined as symbolic patterns and wisdom that feel external to the self. Carl Jung described such archetypes as “universal and inherited patterns which…constitute the structure of the unconscious”. These archetypes may not be top of mind, or even consciously understood during a normal waking day, but may present themselves during KAP. 

Profound Insights and Shifts in Perspective

As the mind untangles throughout the journey and the mental noise dissipates, it leaves space to experience things from a new angle. Folks may come out of a journey clearer than ever before with new perspectives, perhaps simpler, truer or deeper insights that they are able to take away with them. 

The “K-Hole” and Mystical States

The term “K-hole” refers to a deep dissociative state that can occur at high doses of ketamine. Often mentioned in recreational settings, the term is essentially used to describe the state someone enters after having taken ‘too much’ ketamine for their psyche or physical body to handle. For some, entering a K-hole can feel profound; for others, it can be disorienting or frightening, especially if it happens unexpectedly or in an unsafe or unfamiliar environment. 

We mention this to clarify any assumption that Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy requires entering a K-hole. It does not. In KAP, the goal is to find a depth of experience where someone feels the effects but is still lucid, retains memory, and is able to process their experience with some clarity. 

How KAP Differs from Recreational Ketamine Use

Ketamine can open us to higher states of consciousness, and it’s natural to be curious about exploring those states on your own. KAP, however, offers a more intentional kind of experience, one that’s thoughtfully designed, supported, and oriented toward real, lasting change rather than fleeting (albeit potentially profound) recreational experiences.

Supported by a Trained Therapist

In a therapeutic setting, a trained therapist helps you prepare, gently holds the space during your journey, and supports you afterward as you make sense of what came up. The added assurance that you are in a safe intentional space can also be helpful and comforting to some. That kind of presence can make it easier to relax into the experience, knowing there’s someone there to help you stay grounded if things feel intense or unclear.

Integrating the Ketamine Therapy Session

What often sets therapy apart is what happens after the journey. Insights can feel profound in the moment, but without support, they can fade or feel hard to apply to everyday life. Within a safe, intentional container, the therapist is there to help meet old wounds, habits, or beliefs with more curiosity and compassion. Those experiences can be explored, felt, and gradually integrated into how you think, relate, and navigate the world after the experience.

Ketamine-Assisted Therapy for Trauma, Addiction, Depression, and/or Anxiety

Ketamine has shown promise in working with serious psychological trauma, addiction, depression, and anxiety. These can be sticky to work through with talk therapy alone. Trauma is not just a past event but an imprint on the mind, brain, and body. KAP can temporarily relieve the body’s trauma response, creating space for new perspectives and thought patterns. This allows individuals to process, reframe, and release trauma in ways that may have felt previously inaccessible. 

KAP has also clinically demonstrated sustained reductions in anxiety, depression, and PTSD, with symptom improvement lasting well beyond the duration of dosing and integration sessions.

Lasting Effects

Within the therapeutic container, Ketamine has profound and lasting effects. Folks may report an overall sense of contentment, ease and openness. When exploring what it means to have a spiritual connection or expanded consciousness, neural plasticity cannot be understated. 

How Ketamine Differs from Classic Psychedelics

Both ketamine and what are considered “classic” psychedelics – think mushrooms and MDMA – are used for therapeutic purposes, but they differ in a few ways. Here’s a quick, simplified breakdown of the distinctions of ketamine versus other psychedelics:

The Effect on the Brain

To simplify the different neurological responses, classic psychedelics have been found to increase the amount of neural connections happening in the brain, whereas ketamine loosens existing structures. They both support neuroplasticity in different ways.

Similarities and Differences in Mystical Phenomena

It’s nearly impossible to fully capture the similarities and differences between ketamine and classic psychedelics, given the deeply personal and often ineffable nature of these journeys. 

At the risk of oversimplifying, psilocybin weaves a sort of spiritual web of connection, while ketamine can loosen one’s tethers. Both paths can lead to profound insights into being human, connecting with spirit, and encountering the mystical, but how this unfolds is ultimately undefinable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. Dorandeu, F. “Happy 50th Anniversary Ketamine.” CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, vol. 19, no. 6, 2013, p. 369. Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1111/cns.12074.
2. Mollaahmetoglu, O. M., et al. “‘This Is Something That Changed My Life’: A Qualitative Study of Patients’ Experiences in a Clinical Trial of Ketamine Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorders.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 12, 2021, article 695335. Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.695335.
3. Jung, C. G. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Translated by R. F. C. Hull, Princeton UP, 1968. (Original work published 1959). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315725642.
4. Van der Kolk, B. A. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking, 2014. National Library of Medicine, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8418154/.
5. Yermus, Ryan, John Bottos, Nathan Bryson, Joseph A. De Leo, Mitch Earleywine, Emily Hackenburg, Sidney Kennedy, Martha Kezemidis, Sarah Kratina, Robert McMaster, Ben Medrano, Monica Mina, Dominique Morisano, Michael Muench, Sabana Pillai, Randall Scharlach, Varun Setlur, Michael Verbora, and Elizabeth Wolfson. “Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Provides Lasting and Effective Results: Sustained Reductions in Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD.” Journal of Psychedelic Medicine, vol. 2, no. 2, 2024, pp. 87–95, https://doi.org/10.1089/psymed.2023.0021.

Additional Sources

1. Miller, C., et al. “The Collective Lie in Ketamine Therapy: A Call to Realign Clinical Practice with Neurobiology.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 16, 2025, article 1610335. Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1610335.
2. Bathje, G. J., et al. “Psychedelic Integration: An Analysis of the Concept and Its Practice.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 13, 2022. Frontiers.
3. Dore, J., et al. “Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Provides Lasting and Effective Results: Sustained Reductions in Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD.” Journal of Psychedelic Medicine, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1089/psymed.2023.0021.