Journaling after ketamine treatment can help you get the most out of your infusions.
Remembering & creating meaning
Journaling and documenting your experiences with ketamine infusion offers a similar benefit to dream journaling.
When you wake up from a dream, if you spend time thinking about and remembering your dream and take the time to write it down, you may remember your dreams much better and in greater details than if you were to get out of bed and immediately move on in your day. Similarly, journaling after ketamine treatment can help you remember your experience of the journey of your infusion, and help you better process or interpret meaning from it.
Just as with dream journaling, the process of writing and thinking about your experience is likely far more important than the experience itself.
Private reflection
Journaling allows you to have a private space to reflect and process your thoughts and emotions, even when you may not want to do so with other people. It can be much harder to face the possibility of shame or judgment when you open yourself up to be vulnerable with another person, rather than a piece of paper (that you can immediately discard or destroy).
It may be more comfortable to write things down than it is to discuss your feelings with another person, even a therapist. Writing things down enables you to reflect and process your thoughts and emotions, and gives you the ability to hold emotional space for yourself.
Accountability
Lastly, journaling after ketamine infusions can help hold you accountable to your treatment goals.
Some patients come in for treatment with a mentality that they can just add ketamine and move on with their lives – everything else in their life can stay the same, and the medication will make all the difference. However, journaling and meditating on your thoughts may help you to see what else in your life it may be beneficial for you to change.
Reflecting on your experience during with ketamine treatments can help you consider if there are priorities that need to be shifted, or if there is a purpose you should reconsider or feel drawn toward, or if there are relationships that you can lean into in ways that create meaningful and beneficial change in your life. Journaling offers an avenue to consider these ideas, and consider what other changes you can make in your life to benefit your mental health.
Journaling Is Useful
Journaling is useful almost any time, and may be especially useful after ketamine treatments. It is a way to process our thoughts, feelings and experiences. It can allow for private reflection. It can help us sort our priorities and hew to our goals.
Journaling is an excellent tool to help with mental health.
About Us
Wells Medicine is a Houston-based practice designed to provide meaningful care for mental health. Providing targeted interventional treatments for Depression, Anxiety, OCD, PTSD and other conditions, with Ketamine Treatments, Stellate Ganglion Blocks, TMS, and Nitrous-Oxide Treatments. Focused on comprehensive care and integration with Psychiatry, Psychology, and Support Services. We are evidence-based, patient-focused and mission-driven.
The content here is for informational purposes and should not be relied upon for medical decisions. For the details of your specific medical conditions and treatments consult your doctors or other qualified healthcare professionals.
