One Couple's Journey to Healing with Ketamine Therapy

We had the opportunity to sit down with Jorge and Katie, a married couple who both went through the Wondermed treatment program and were gracious enough to share more about their journey. Their story is a poignant example of how ketamine treatment can be a powerful tool for elevating not only your mental health, but also your interpersonal relationships.

When Jorge came to Wondermed, he’d already experienced the powerful healing potential of ketamine after a series of in-clinic intramuscular (IM) infusions offered him relief from his battle with treatment-resistant depression for the first time. Before starting IM ketamine, Jorge had tried at least six different traditional antidepressant medications without success, and he was losing hope. 

Despite the benefits he felt from in-clinic infusions, he found the higher doses and sharper onset of IM ketamine led to an experience that sometimes felt too intense.

“IM ketamine felt a little bit like being shot out of a cannon,” Jorge described. He turned to Wondermed in search of a “gentler” experience, and he appreciated the fact that he could experience the session in the comfort and safety of his own home.

Katie shared that she likely wouldn’t have ever considered trying ketamine therapy herself had it not been for the positive changes she noticed in her husband, which she described as immediate and remarkable. While her anxiety held her back from trying in-clinic treatments, when Jorge began at-home ketamine treatment through Wondermed, it was the final push she needed to take the plunge, and she mustered the courage to enroll in the program herself.

Jorge started the Wondermed program with the goals of breaking free from depression and showing up better for his wife and their daughter. Katie hoped to ease her anxiety and “feel more like herself.”

“I feel like we both got a lot more out of it than we went in expecting,” Jorge said.

Katie agreed: “The [Wondermed] program benefited us in ways we never could have foreseen.”

For Jorge, the program helped him identify the negative scripts and core beliefs about himself and the world that were harmful to him.

“Ketamine is an excellent agent of change and an incredible tool for bridging the gap between what you know intellectually and what you feel on an emotional level,” he described. “It gives you the opportunity to challenge those mistaken beliefs and absorb new beliefs more easily and more fully - messages like ‘you are worthy,’ and ‘you are a wonderful person.’”

Katie found she had more patience and an increased sense of peace in her day-to-day life.

“One of the things it helped me with was identifying feelings in my body, and where they come from,” she said. “Ketamine allows you to be more flexible in your thinking, and to sort of take a pause and see things from a different perspective. Something that might have really bothered you in the past might look different and feel different.”

According to Jorge and Katie, the treatment program also helped to strengthen their relationship. 

“I understood Katie and her needs better, and she understood me and my needs better. We developed insight not just into ourselves, but into what the other person is thinking and feeling and what they need from the relationship,” said Jorge.

The pair shared that being able to support one another through their individual healing journeys has been a powerful bonding experience, that has improved the way they communicate in their relationship, and fostered a deepened sense of empathy and mutual understanding.

“Overall as a couple, it’s given us grace with one another,” Katie said.

"At the end of the day, we're just lighter, happier people," Jorge added.

Helping patients like Jorge and Katie find healing and renewed joy for life is our greatest privilege, and we’re honored and deeply grateful they were willing to share their story.

Ready to embark on your own healing journey with Wondermed?

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Want to learn more about at-home ketamine therapy?

• To find out more about Wondermed’s at-home ketamine treatment program, visit our homepage.
• To dive deeper into the science behind how ketamine works to treat depression and anxiety, check out our comprehensive guide. 
• If you’re a clinician looking to add ketamine treatment to your own practice, learn more about our partnered provider program.