Jeffrey Lang Counseling

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a specialized healing modality where I, as a trained Psychotherapist, sit with, accompany, and guide clients through a non-ordinary state of consciousness induced by the use of legally-prescribed Ketamine in a controlled and specifically curated environment. KAP has shown great results for many individuals suffering from Depression, PTSD, Anxiety, OCD, self harming behaviors, and addiction. 

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I first encountered the word “trauma,” in a personal way, as a client.  In my initial consultation with my therapist, I disclosed a substantial history of painful experiences that punctuated my history with substance abuse and dangerously avoidant behavior.  In response, my therapist said, “It’s not surprising to see someone with a trauma history like yours struggling with sobriety.”  That word hit me like a cannonball square in the chest.  I had never considered the fact that my behavior was a reaction to something.  In fact, it had always seemed easier to view my struggles with alcohol as a stand-alone problem.  Wouldn’t it be easier to believe that I just had a massive personal flaw, which, if skillfully suppressed, could be hidden for as long as it took for me to act like everyone else?  But there was that word—trauma—the reality that I was simply trying to minimize my pain. 

The acceptance of the fact that you are fundamentally a good person can be brutally destabilizing, especially when it comes from a therapist, a supposed “expert” on the nature of human experience.  When a client has spent much of their life bent over by the weight of shame for engaging in coping behaviors that are frowned upon by those around them, that belief in being a fundamentally flawed person can become an extremely important identity.  In fact, that identity can be in a vital symbiosis with the coping strategies.  If I’m bad, I might as well keep drinking.  And if I’m drinking, I don’t have to feel bad.  It works, for a while at least.  But one can only hold a bowling ball in each hand for so long before you need to set one down to eat.  This is when the client comes in for help.  Do I set down my coping strategy? Then I have to feel the full weight of my shame.  Do I set down my belief in my awfulness?  Then I might not be able to bear seeing what my coping strategy is doing to my life.  I propose a third option—let the therapist hold onto the bowling balls for a few minutes, while you experience life without 10 pounds dangling from each arm.

Anxiety is, quite simply, the fear that something is going to go wrong, catastrophically. The simple fact of human existence is that things will go wrong—but more likely, they will go right. But anxiety limits our perception to only looking for confirmation of our suspicion that life is going to be disastrous. In working with anxiety, Jeff begins by identifying and developing the individual’s resources and strengths, thereby making anxiety a workable experience.