Library
Articles, research, and stories
Original writing from our team alongside a curated shelf of peer-reviewed studies and major-publication journalism on ceremonial ketamine, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and the conditions we hold space for. Filter by topic below.
Featured · Within Center
What Ceremonial Ketamine Actually Does to the Brain
A grounded look at the neuroscience of ketamine-assisted therapy — what we know, what we don’t, and why the ceremonial container matters as much as the molecule.
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Condition
Depression
Treatment-resistant & major depressive disorder. How ketamine creates new pathways when nothing else has worked.
Condition
Anxiety
Generalized anxiety, panic & trauma-driven fear. Finding the stillness underneath the noise.
Condition
Burnout
Chronic exhaustion & existential depletion. Returning to what matters before you forget what that was.
Condition
Grief
Loss that hasn't moved & complicated grief. Making space to feel what still needs to be felt.
Condition
Addiction
Substance use & the pain underneath. Addressing root cause, not just symptoms.
Within Center · The Medicine
Ceremonial Ketamine vs. Psychedelic Therapy: What’s the Difference?
Many people searching for psilocybin, MDMA, or DMT therapy find ceremonial ketamine. How they compare, and why ketamine is the only legal option in the U.S. today.
Within Center · Integration
The Days After: A Practical Guide to Integration
Insight without integration fades. How to turn what arose during ceremony into changes that stay with you in daily life.
Within Center · Mental Health
When Therapy Isn’t Enough: Treatment-Resistant Depression
For people who’ve tried multiple medications and many years of therapy, ceremonial ketamine can offer something fundamentally different.
Within Center · Retreats
What to Expect at a Mental Health Retreat
A day-by-day walk-through of an immersive retreat at AWKN Ranch — what mornings look like, what ceremony feels like, and what happens after you leave.
Within Center · Stories
A Couples Reset: When Two People Heal Together
Most couples therapy works in words. Sometimes a shared ceremonial experience does what twenty hours of conversation can’t.
Within Center · The Medicine
Why We Call It “Ceremonial”
What changes when ketamine is offered as a ceremony rather than a procedure — and why the container matters as much as the medicine.
Within Center · Mental Health
Burnout: A Modern Diagnosis That Needs an Old Solution
Why the high-functioning, capable, “fine” people are often the ones whose nervous systems need this work most.
Within Center · Retreats
Texas Wellness Retreats: Your Guide
An honest look at the wellness retreat landscape in Texas — from yoga and meditation to ceremonial medicine work, and how to choose what fits.
NEJM · Research
Ketamine versus ECT for Treatment-Resistant Major Depression
Anand et al., 2023. The largest head-to-head trial showed ketamine works at least as well as ECT — without the memory side effects.
STAT News · Article
Ketamine is comparable to ECT for treatment-resistant depression
Olivia Goldhill, 2023. Plain-language news write-up of the ELEKT-D trial — useful if the NEJM paper feels too technical.
NPR Shots · Story
From Chaos to Calm: A Life Changed by Ketamine
Patti Neighmond, 2018. A patient’s first-person account of how ketamine ended decades of suicidal depression.
Yale News · Explainer
How Ketamine Vanquishes Depression Within Hours
2012. Yale’s plain-English explanation of why ketamine works so fast — synaptic regrowth, not serotonin.
Biological Psychiatry · Research
Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine in Depressed Patients
Berman et al., 2000. The original trial that showed ketamine could lift depression within hours — the foundation of everything that followed.
J. Psychopharmacology · Research
Maintenance Ketamine for Treatment-Refractory Anxiety
Glue et al., 2018. Weekly ketamine kept severe anxiety in remission — 18 of 20 patients improved socially and at work.
Yale Medicine · Article
How Ketamine Helps with Depression and Anxiety
Jennifer Chen, updated 2022. Yale’s clinical overview of how ketamine works on mood and anxiety, with the mechanism explained simply.
Scientific American · Article
‘Special K’ Holds Promise for Treating Depression Fast
Sara Reardon, 2015. An accessible primer on ketamine’s leap from anesthetic to fast-acting treatment for mood and anxiety.
Neuropsychopharmacology · Research
Ketamine in OCD: Proof-of-Concept Trial
Rodriguez et al., 2013. First placebo-controlled trial showing ketamine cut OCD symptoms within hours — a glutamate breakthrough.
Stanford Medicine · Profile
K for OCD: The Pros and Cons of Ketamine
Tracie White, 2017. A patient profile plus Carolyn Rodriguez’s lab — the most readable account of where ketamine-for-OCD stands.
JAMA Psychiatry · Research
IV Ketamine for Chronic PTSD: A Randomized Trial
Feder et al., 2014. First randomized trial showing a single ketamine infusion can rapidly reduce PTSD symptoms.
Am. J. Psychiatry · Research
Repeated Ketamine for Chronic PTSD
Feder et al., 2021. Six ketamine infusions over two weeks produced large, lasting drops in PTSD symptoms versus placebo.
NPR · News
Trump Signs Order Fast-Tracking Review of Psychedelics for Mental Health
Mandalit del Barco, 2026. A new federal executive order directs $50 million toward psychedelic research and asks the FDA to fast-track review of psilocybin and ibogaine as treatments for depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
NEJM · Research
Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression
Carhart-Harris et al., 2021. First major trial pitting psilocybin head-to-head against an SSRI — psilocybin matched it and worked faster.
NEJM · Research
Single-Dose Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression
Goodwin et al., 2022. Phase 2 trial showed one psilocybin session lifted depression in patients no other treatment had reached.
JAMA Psychiatry · Research
Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder
Davis, Griffiths et al., 2021. Johns Hopkins study showing psilocybin’s effect on depression was four times larger than typical antidepressants.
The New Yorker · Long-form
The Trip Treatment
Michael Pollan, 2015. The article that launched the modern psychedelic therapy conversation — Pollan inside Hopkins’ first psilocybin trials.
NPR · Profile
A Psychedelics Researcher Approached His Death with Calm and Curiosity
Rachel Martin, 2023. Roland Griffiths, the Hopkins scientist who pioneered psilocybin-for-depression research, facing his own terminal cancer.
NPR · Overview
Psychedelics Might Be the Next Big Thing in Mental Health Care
2022. A balanced overview for someone curious whether psychedelic therapy is hype or real science.
Cell Reports · Research
Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity
Ly, Olson et al., 2018. Lab proof that psychedelics — like ketamine — physically grow new connections between brain cells.
Nature · Review
Towards an Understanding of Psychedelic-Induced Neuroplasticity
Aleksandrova & Phillips, 2022. A peer-reviewed map of how ketamine and psilocybin both rewire the brain — the science behind “lasting change after one dose.”
NPR Shots · Article
Psychedelic Drugs Could Help with Depression, PTSD
Jon Hamilton, 2022. Why a single dose can shift mood for months — explained through brain plasticity research.
NPR Shots · Explainer
How Psilocybin Triggers Plasticity
2024. A recent NPR explainer on the rewiring effect that links ketamine and classical psychedelics.
NPR Shots · Story
‘How Do You Not Offer This Drug to People?’
Patti Neighmond, 2017. Patient stories of immediate relief after years of failed antidepressants.